THE  HEEL  OF  WAR 


UNTf .  OF  CALIF.  LIBRARY.  LOS  ANGKLES 


The  contents  of  this  book  have  already  appeared 
in  the  Sunday  Magazine  of  the  New  York  Times. 
Acknowledgment  is  hereby  made  of  the  courtesy 
which  has  permitted  their  reprint. 


THE   HEEL  OF  WAR 


BY 


GEORGE   B.  McCLELLAN 


G.  W.  DILLINGHAM  COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS  NEW  YORK 


The  Heel  of  War 


COPYRIGHT,   1916, 

BY 
0.  W.  DILLINOHAM  COMPANY 


ALL  RIGHTS  RESERVED 


PUBLISHED  JANUABY.  1916 


PRINTED  m  THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA 
LINOTYPE  COMPOSITION,  ELECTROTYPES,  PRESSWORK  AND  BINDING 

BY 

The  J.  J.  Little  &  Ines  Company 

£85-435  East  24th  Street 

New  York  City 

N.Y. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Preface ix 

CHAPTER  I 
ECONOMIC  CONDITION  OF  GERMANY 

Conditions  are  practically  normal.  No  lack  of 
work,  food,  necessities,  or  even  luxuries. 
Restaurants,  theatres  and  hotels  running 
about  as  usual.  In  very  few  instances  are 
women  doing  the  work  of  men.  Splendid  con- 
dition of  soldiery.  Special  provision  made  for 
wounded.  Hospital  service  unsurpassed.  Pris- 
oners well  cared  for  in  sanitary  camps  near 
military  centres.  Gold  reserve  larger  than  at 
beginning  of  war.  Building  operations  are  on 
the  increase 1 

CHAPTER  II 
GERMANS  CONFIDENT  OF  VICTORY 

Great  admiration  felt  for  rank  and  file  of  British 
soldiers,  and  for  the  ignorant  bravery  of  offi- 
cers. Italy  considered  negligible.  Russians 
are  particularly  courageous.  Ill-feeling  toward 
France.  Surprise  at  unfriendly  attitude  of 
United  States  press.  Birth  of  "two  schools  of 
thought":  (1)  Annexationists,  who  wish  to 
hold  all  land  already  gained,  and  (2)  Anti- 
annexationists,  who  want  only  certain  naval 
stations  and  such  territory  as  will  hold  England 
in  check.  Possible  adjustments  hi  other  in- 
terested nations  after  the  war  .  22 


2131544 


vi  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  III 
BELGIUM  UNDER  GERMAN  RULE 

Conditions  are  not  abnormal  in  any  way.  Un- 
employment exists  because  capitalist  class  will 
not  resume  usual  industrial  activities.  Train 
service  superior  to  that  of  France.  Crops 
unusually  abundant.  Plenty  of  native  labor 
to  gather  it.  No  lack  of  cattle,  sheep  or  poul- 
try. Newspapers  running  as  usual.  No  rigid 
censorship  hi  evidence.  In  fact  there  is  little 
to  suggest  German  occupation.  Effectiveness 
of  Belgian  Red  Cross  Organization.  Excellent 
work  of  American  Relief  Commission  ....  52 

CHAPTER  IV 
LOUVAIN 

Accounts  of  serious  damage  to  city  greatly  exag- 
gerated. No  evidence  of  shell  fire.  Four 
Belgian  versions  of  alleged  wilful  destruction 
of  town.  Official  German  version.  Concerted 
attack  by  native  villagers  upon  peaceful  Ger- 
man soldiers.  Coming  of  reinforcements  de- 
feated purpose  of  Belgians.  Houses  were  fired 
in  order  to  smoke  out  the  "snipers."  Cathe- 
dral and  art  treasures  saved  from  fire  by 
German  soldiers.  Stagnation  of  Antwerp. 
Loss  of  shipping  interests 72 

CHAPTER  V 
FRANCE  SACRIFICES  TO  WIN 

No  real  hatred  for  Germany  except  among  Amer- 
ican colony  and  a  small  section  of  unrepre- 
sentative French.  French  people  make  many 
sacrifices  for  "La  Patrie."  Irritability  hi 


CONTENTS  vii 

PAGE 

Government  circles.  French  people  kept  in 
ignorance  of  real  conditions.  Establishment 
of  oppressive  dictatorship  without  consent  of 
people  or  parliament.  Viviani  Ministry  em- 
ploys unconstitutional  methods.  Censorship 
active.  No  uncensored  "war  news "  permitted 
from  the  front.  No  German  newspapers  al- 
lowed. All  mail  matter  held  up  five  days 
before  leaving  France  96 

CHAPTER  VI 
DISAFFECTION  WITH  VIVIANI  MINISTRY 

The  illegal  status  of  the  ruling  ministry.  Praise 
of  General  Joffre.  French  politicians  criticise 
British  tactics.  France  has  no  more  men  for 
the  army.  Fall  of  Calais  and  seizure  of  Suez 
Canal  means  end  of  war.  Creusot  blunder 
and  exoneration  of  General  Joffre.  Fear  of 
"war  dictatorship"  being  retained  after  peace 
is  declared.  Should  Germany  win,  she  will 
find  it  to  her  interests  to  preserve  the  French 
republic  intact 121 

CHAPTER  VII 
ITALY'S  ATTITUDE  TOWARD  THE  WAR 

Italian  vacillation  and  uncertainty  as  to  course  of 
action.  Her  strength  not  equal  to  her  political 
ambitions.  Italy  remained  neutral  only  so 
long  as  it  served  her  interests  to  do  so.  The 
"break"  with  Austria-Hungary.  The  fail- 
ure of  Von  Billow's  negotiations.  Result- 
ing "deadlock"  with  Central  Empires.  So- 
nino's  radical  alteration  of  Italy's  foreign 
policy.  Italy  joins  forces  with  the  Allies  .  .  .  138 


viii  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  VIII 
GIOLITTI  AND  THE  ITALIAN  GOVERNMENT 

PAGE 

For  fifteen  years  Giolitti  has  dominated  Italian 
politics.  Government  furious  at  Giolitti's  in- 
tervention. Resignations  of  ministry  handed 
in.  Example  of  mob  psychology.  King  at- 
tempted to  form  new  government.  Continua- 
tion of  Salandra  ministry.  War  declared 
against  Austria-Hungary.  Italy  doomed  to 
disappointment  no  matter  what  the  outcome 
may  be.  Conduct  of  Italian  people  worthy 
of  highest  praise 162 


PREFACE 

GEORGE  B.  McCLELLAlST  is  recog- 
nized as  an  authority  on  the  politi- 
cal history  of  modern  Europe.  He 
spent  half  of  this  year  travelling  through  the 
war-stricken  countries  of  Europe,  that  he 
might  see  with  his  own  eyes  and  hear  with 
his  own  ears.  His  journey  took  him  through 
France,  Belgium,  Holland,  Germany,  Switz- 
erland and  Italy. 

Having  often  visited  these  countries  in  the 
happier  days  of  peace,  and  having  formed  a 
wide  acquaintance  with  the  men  who  have 
shaped  the  political  policies  of  the  Powers, 
Mr.  McClellan  was  admirably  equipped  to 
make  a  first-hand  study  of  Europe  at  war. 

The  results  of  his  observations  were  em- 
bodied in  a  series  of  articles  in  the  New  York 


x  Preface 

Times,  which  have  aroused  so  much  discus- 
sion here  and  abroad  that,  with  the  permis- 
sion of  the  proprietors  of  the  Times,  they 
have  been  brought  together  in  this  book, 
after  revision  by  the  author. 

That  it  is  a  difficult  task  for  a  neutral 
American — no  matter  how  broad  his  knowl- 
edge of  European  peoples,  their  history  and 
politics  and  ambitions,  or  how  earnest  his  ef- 
fort to  write  without  prejudice — to  tell  what 
he  has  seen  on  the  Continent  without  having 
to  face  the  charge  of  partisanship,  no  one 
will  deny.  The  warfare  of  words  in  Amer- 
ica has  been  as  bitter  as  the  warfare  of  blood 
across  the  Atlantic. 

Mr.  McClellan  has  not  escaped  criticism, 
despite  the  fact  that,  as  a  neutral  observer 
with  a  warm  affection  for  the  peoples 
of  France,  Germany  and  Italy,  he  has 
attempted  to  report  only  the  facts  as 


XI 

lie  saw  them  on  both  sides  of   the  war 
zone. 

Mr.  McClellan  needs  no  introduction  to 
American  readers.  The  son  of  a  famous 
father — General  George  B.  McClellan  of  the 
Civil  War — the  author  of  this  book  has  been 
for  five  terms  a  Member  of  Congress,  for  six 
years  Mayor  of  New  York,  and  is  now  Pro- 
fessor of  Economic  History  in  Princeton 
University. 

DECEMBER,  1915. 


THE  HEEL  OF  WAR 

CHAPTER  I 

ECONOMIC    CONDITION    OP    GERMANY 

Conditions  are  practically  normal.  No  lack  of  work, 
food,  necessities,  or  even  luxuries.  Restaurants, 
theatres  and  hotels  running  about  as  usual.  In  very 
few  instances  are  women  doing  the  work  of  men. 
Splendid  condition  of  soldiery.  Special  provision 
made  for  wounded.  Hospital  service  unsurpassed. 
Prisoners  well  cared  for  in  sanitary  camps  near 
military  centres.  Gold  reserve  larger  than  at  be- 
ginning of  war.  Building  operations  are  on  the 
increase. 

1HAVE  written  of  what  I  saw  and  heard 
in  Germany,  as  I  saw  and  heard  it, 
giving  my  impressions  with  as  little 
comment  as  possible. 
During  the  last  six  months  I  have  visited 

Italy,  France,  Switzerland,  Germany,  Bel- 

i 


2        The  Heel  of  War 

gium,  and  Holland,  four  belligerent  and  two 
neutral  countries.  Of  them  all  Germany  is 
by  far  the  most  normal,  conditions  within 
the  German  Empire  being  much  nearer  the 
usual  than  anywhere  I  have  been  in  Europe 
since  the  war  began. 

I  entered  Germany  at  Lindau,  in  Ba- 
varia, visited  Miinchen,  Dresden,  Berlin,  and 
Koln,  and  crossed  the  border  into  Belgium 
at  Herbersthal.  Of  the  cities,  all  of  which 
I  know  extremely  well,  one  is  Bavarian,  one 
Saxon,  and  two  Prussian.  Yet  in  them  all 
conditions  were  uniformly  normal.  There 
were  fewer  young  men  in  the  streets  than 
usual  and  more  people  in  mourning,  each 
individual  is  limited  to  two  hundred  and 
fifty  grams  of  war  bread  a  day,  and  the  beer 
gardens  close  at  nine  in  the  evening,  so  as 
to  reduce  the  consumption  of  beer  for  the 
benefit  of  the  men  at  the  front,  otherwise 


Germany 


there  is  nothing  to  show  that  Germany  is  at 
war. 

The  hotels,  restaurants,  and  shops  are  all 
open  and  doing  a  good  business.  Prices  are 
generally  as  they  were  before  the  war,  and 
there  is  no  lack  of  any  of  the  necessities  and 
luxuries  of  life.  The  schools,  theatres,  and 
opera  are  going,  the  food  in  the  restaurants 
is  plentiful  and  good,  by  far  the  best  and 
cheapest  I  have  had  this  summer ;  there  are 
enough  excellent  express  trains,  with  sleep- 
ing and  dining  cars  running  on  the  usual 
schedules;  plenty  of  horse  and  motor  cabs, 
and  an  ample  supply  of  men  in  the  vigor  and 
prime  of  life  to  carry  on  the  economic  and 
military  existence  of  the  State. 

I  was  in  Miinchen  on  the  King's  name  day 
and  saw  the  streets  "kept"  by  15,000  new 
troops  of  the  "Ersatz  Reserves,"  men  who 
had  never  before  served  with  the  colors. 


4         The  Heel  of  War 

They  were  all  in  new  field-gray  uniforms, 
fully  armed  and  equipped,  well  set-up,  fine, 
soldierly  fellows,  none  over  39  years  old. 
They  were  Landsturm  troops  of  the  third 
line  of  reserves,  and  yet  any  nation  but  Ger- 
many would  have  been  proud  to  have  had 
them  in  her  first  line. 

There  has  been  no  general  substitution  of 
women  for  men  in  industrial  life,  although 
many  of  the  train  conductors,  railway  work- 
ers, servants  in  the  restaurants,  and  a  few 
auto  cab  drivers  are  now  women. 

A  good  deal  of  building  is  going  on  every- 
where. In  Berlin  the  new  underground  rail- 
way, and  the  new  artificial  harbor  are  being 
pushed  to  completion,  the  shop  windows  are 
filled  with  novelties,  and  I  am  informed  by 
those  who  know  more  of  the  matter  than  I 
do,  that  the  modes  at  the  dressmakers  and 
milliners  are  newer  than  are  those  of  their 


Germany  5 

Paris  rivals,  who  have  suffered  greatly  from 
the  war. 

The  museums  and  picture  galleries  are 
open  and  crowded,  the  only  observable 
change  being  that  they  close  an  hour  earlier 
than  usual,  and  that  older  men  have  been 
substituted  for  the  attendants  who  have  been 
called  to  the  front. 

If  Germany  is  in  want  the  fact  is  no- 
where observable.  Her  economic  condition 
seems  to  be  far  better  than  is  that  of  Italy 
or  France,  or  even  of  Switzerland.  Certain- 
ly one  can  live  better  and  more  cheaply  in 
Germany  than  in  any  of  the  countries  that 
I  have  lately  visited,  life  is  less  difficult, 
there  is  more  prosperity  and  less  poverty. 
Unemployment  has  practically  ceased,  for 
every  man  and  woman  able  to  work  is  being 
used  either  directly  or  indirectly  in  the  serv- 
ice of  the  Fatherland. 


6         The  Heel  of  War 

On  all  sides  one  sees  evidence  of  the  mar- 
velous economic  strength  of  the  country.  It 
is  proved  in  small  things  as  well  as  in  great. 
Not  only  is  the  gold  reserve  twice  as  large 
as  it  was  before  the  beginning  of  the  war, 
not  only  do  the  supplies  of  capital  seem  in- 
exhaustible for  the  transformation  of  old 
peace  industries  into  war  material  factories 
and  for  the  creation  of  new  munitions 
plants,  for  the  development  and  enlarge- 
ment of  the  railway  system  for  war  pur- 
poses and  the  continuation  of  peace  enter- 
prises, but  there  is  money  enough  to  clothe 
every  recruit  in  a  new  uniform  and  to  bury 
every  dead  soldier  in  the  uniform  in  which 
he  was  killed,  luxuries  which  no  other  con- 
tinental army  has  been  able  to  afford. 

The  Germans  insist  that  if  their  enemies 
expect  to  win  through  the  economic  weak- 
ness of  Germany  they  are  leaning  on  a  feeble 
reed,  for  the  empire  is  no  weaker  than  it 


Germany  7 

was  a  year  ago.  On  the  contrary,  they  claim 
to  have  adapted  themselves  to  war  condi- 
tions, and  to  be  self-sustaining,  so  that  were 
it  necessary  the  war  might  be  prolonged  in- 
definitely. 

I  was  in  Germany  during  a  period  of 
great  tension,  just  after  the  sinking  of  the 
Arabic,  when  American  public  opinion  as 
voiced  by  the  press  was  greatly  excited,  some 
American  newspapers  even  clamoring  for 
war.  Yet  nowhere  that  I  went  did  I  receive 
anything  but  the  most  helpful  courtesy  and 
consideration.  Every  German  official,  sol- 
dier, and  citizen  with  whom  I  came  in  con- 
tact was  not  only  willing  but  anxious  to  aid 
me  in  seeing  for  myself  the  real  conditions 
of  the  country.  Even  those  with  whom  I 
had  no  personal  acquaintance,  despite  my 
evident  Americanism  and  outspoken  admi- 
ration for  the  French,  were  uniformly  polite 


8         The  Heel  of  War 

and  kindly.  Speaking  English  on  the  streets 
and  in  the  restaurants  results  in  only  a  mild 
interest  among  one's  neighbors.  One  can 
easily  imagine  the  consequences  of  speaking 
German  in  either  Borne,  Paris,  or  London. 

Apart  from  the  questions  of  recruitment 
and  the  ordinary  support  of  the  civil  popu- 
lation, the  two  gravest  problems  which  have 
confronted  Germany  during  the  war  have 
been  the  care  of  the  wounded  and  of  prison- 
ers. The  wounded  have  been  distributed 
among  all  the  large  cities,  being  sent  directly 
from  the  field  stations  to  the  nearest  avail- 
able centre.  Not  only  are  the  ordinary  civil 
hospitals  used,  but  a  great  number  of  mili- 
tary "  lazarets "  have  been  improvised. 
There  are  some  thirty-six  hospitals  of  vari- 
ous sizes  in  Miinchen,  twenty  in  Dresden, 
and  forty  in  Berlin. 

The  great  distributing  lazaret  which  I 


Germany  9 

visited  in  Munchen  is  located  in  the  new 
Custom  House,  which  was  transformed  into 
an  up-to-date,  almost  ideal  modern  hospital 
of  2,000  beds  in  less  than  six  weeks  after  the 
outbreak  of  the  war.  The  system  in  force  in 
Miinchen  is  followed  in  almost  all  the  other 
cities.  The  trains  coming  from  the  front 
run  directly  into  the  hospital.  The  men  who 
are  on  stretchers  are  lifted  out  into  a  vast 
examination  room,  from  which  those  who 
need  immediate  attention  or  who  cannot 
stand  further  transportation  are  sent  up- 
stairs to  the  operating  rooms,  or  wards.  The 
rest  are  loaded  on  tram  cars,  still  on  their 
stretchers,  and  sent  to  the  various  other  hos- 
pitals in  the  city.  The  trolley  tracks  have 
been  extended  so  that  practically  all  trans- 
portation of  wounded  is  by  tram  car,  instead 
of  by  ambulance,  resulting  in  greater  speed 


10       The  Heel  of  War 

in  transportation,  more  comfort  for  the  men 
and  consequently  a  lower  death  rate. 

The  hospitals  which  I  visited  in  Germany 
— and  I  visited  a  number — are  scrupulously 
clean  and  well  kept,  and  very  comfortable. 
Much  is  done  for  the  men's  amusement,  in- 
cluding "Kaffee  und  kuchen"  every  after- 
noon, during  which  there  is  usually  a  band 
concert.  They  are  well  cared  for  and  have 
all  they  need,  even  to  two  dietaries,  which  I 
am  told  is  not  the  case  elsewhere. 

The  German  wounded,  like  the  wounded 
of  every  other  country,  are  patient  and 
brave,  cheerful  and  contented.  Like  other 
Continental  soldiers,  they  are  as  simple- 
hearted  as  children  and  very  grateful  and 
appreciative  for  any  little  presents  of  choco- 
lates or  cigarettes. 

The  surgeons  seem  to  be  a  very  superior 
class  of  men,  and  the  nurses  impressed  me 


Germany  n 

more  favorably  than  any  I  have  seen  but  our 
own.  The  supply  of  trained  nurses,  of 
course,  proved  utterly  inadequate  for  the 
needs  of  the  war.  The  deficiency  in  numbers 
was  made  up  by  volunteers,  most  of  whom 
belong  to  the  aristocracy  and  middle  class, 
and  have  had  preliminary  training  of  from 
six  weeks  to  three  months. 

The  Germans  claim  that  their  losses  in 
killed,  wounded,  and  prisoners  have  been  on 
the  west  front  about  one-fifth  less  than  those 
of  the  French  and  English,  and  on  the  east 
front  about  one-third  less  than  those  of  the 
Russians.  They  also  claim  that  because  of 
superior  sanitation  at  the  front,  by  giving 
the  men  bathing  facilities,  and  more  or  less 
frequent  changes  of  linen,  for  field  laundries 
follow  the  troops,  and  by  keeping  the 
trenches  in  a  reasonable  state  of  cleanliness, 
85  per  cent,  of  the  wounded  return  to  active 


12       The  Heel  of  War 

service.  Gas  gangrene,  that  horrible  filth- 
germ  infection,  which  is  the  dread  of  French 
surgeons,  is  practically  unknown  in  Ger- 
many, and  typhus  and  cholera  have  thus  far 
been  excluded. 

In  addition  to  the  regular  hospitals  there 
are  various  institutions  supported  by  private 
charity  for  the  purpose  of  helping  particular 
cases.  There  are  schools  to  teach  trades  to 
the  permanently  maimed,  and  in  almost  all 
of  the  large  cities  homes  for  the  care  of  the 
totally  blind.  Of  the  latter,  fortunately  and 
curiously,  there  are  less  than  1,000  in  France 
and  less  than  900  in  Germany.  In  Germany 
they  receive  a  pension  of  1,600  marks,  or 
$400,  a  year,  which  is  more  than  the  average 
peasant  in  sound  health  can  possibly  earn. 
The  home  for  blind  soldiers,  or  Kriegsblin- 
denheim,  in  Berlin,  at  No.  12  Bellevue 
Strasse,  of  which  her  Excellency  Frau  von 


Germany  13 

Ihne  is  the  head,  gives  them  not  only  a  home 
where  they  are  cared  for  and  receive  medical 
attendance,  but  also  a  school  where  there  is 
instruction  in  massage,  typewriting,  music, 
and  rope,  basket,  and  slipper  making. 

Germany  is  quite  able  to  care  for  her  own 
wounded  and  requires  neither  surgeons  nor 
nurses.  Certain  supplies  are,  however,  much 
desired,  chiefly  bandages,  which  should  be 
ten  yards  long  and  four  inches  wide,  and  ab- 
sorbent cotton.  A  more  or  less  useful  sub- 
stitute for  cotton  has  been  invented  in  special 
wood  pulp  paper,  but  cotton  is,  nevertheless, 
greatly  needed.  Supplies  can  be  sent  to  Ger- 
many through  the  American  Eed  Cross. 
Money  can  be  used  to  great  advantage,  and 
the  various  blind  homes,  like  that  at  Berlin, 
are  supported  entirely  by  private  effort. 

One  of  the  largest  items  of  expense  for 
Germany  in  the  war  has  been  the  care  of 


14        The  Heel  of  War 

prisoners.  As  the  German  war  losses  have 
been  much  smaller  than  those  of  the  Allies, 
so  the  number  of  prisoners  taken  by  the  Cen- 
tral Empires  have  been  much  greater  than 
the  number  taken  by  their  enemies.  The 
Central  Empires  have  taken  between  them 
some  two  million  prisoners,  of  whom  Aus- 
tria-Hungary has  captured  about  600,000, 
and  Germany  about  1,400,000.  Roughly 
speaking,  of  the  prisoners  in  Germany  50,000 
are  English,  400,000  are  French  and  the  rest 
are  Russians. 

Besides  these  there  are  five  thousand  Brit- 
ish civilians  interned  near  Berlin.  The  Ger- 
mans do  not  intern  women  as  the  French 
do,  and  only  began  interning  male  civilian 
enemies  after  the  Allies  refused  to  permit 
civilian  Germans  to  return  home.  Civilian 
Englishmen  were  not  interned  until  Novem- 
ber, 1914,  three  months  after  the  war  began, 


Germany  15 

when  it  became  evident  that  Great  Britain 
would  not  release  the  German  civilians  she 
had  imprisoned. 

The  military  prisoners  are  held  in  the  in- 
terior of  the  empire  in  prison  camps  contain- 
ing from  three  to  fifteen  thousand  men  each. 
The  officers  are  kept  by  themselves  in  castles 
and  country  places  set  apart  for  the  purpose. 
The  prisoners  of  the  three  enemy  nations  are 
drafted  more  or  less  indiscriminately  to  the 
different  camps.  While  the  French  and  Rus- 
sians get  on  very  well  together,  the  English 
keep  entirely  apart,  and  even  among  them- 
selves preserve  their  class  distinctions. 
Among  the  Tommies  the  captured  members 
of  the  British  garrison  of  Antwerp  receive 
a  good  deal  of  good-natured  chaff.  They  are 
always  known  as  the  C.  I.  V.'s,  or  "  Church- 
ill's innocent  victims." 

While  in  Berlin  I  was  taken  to  the  prison 


is       The  Heel  of  War 

camp  at  Miinchberg,  and  except  for  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Spanish  Embassy,  which  is 
charged  with  the  interests  of  the  Kussian 
and  French  prisoners  in  Germany,  and  a  few 
correspondents,  I  was  the  first  foreigner  to 
visit  it. 

It  is  not  one  of  the  show  camps,  for  it  is 
some  thirty-five  miles  from  the  city,  and  not 
easy  to  get  at.  When  I  was  there  there  were 
about  four  thousand  French  and  Eussian 
prisoners,  but  no  British. 

The  camp  was,  of  course,  not  luxurious, 
but  it  was  well  policed  and  fairly  comfort- 
able. The  food  is  sufficient,  and  while  plain 
is  good  and  wholesome.  As  there  has  been 
some  complaint  of  insufficient  food,  it  may 
not  be  amiss  to  give  the  bill  of  fare  for  the 
day  of  my  visit,  which,  by  the  way,  was  en- 
tirely unexpected  by  the  officer  in  command. 
Every  one  in  Germany  but  prisoners  is  lim- 


Germany  17 

ited  to  250  grams  of  war  bread  a  day ;  pris- 
oners are  given  a  daily  allowance  of  300 
grams  of  the  same  exceedingly  good  and 
wholesome  bread.  For  breakfast  on  the  day 
in  question  the  prisoners  were  given  coffee 
and  bread;  for  dinner,  bread,  a  heaping 
plateful  of  beef  goulash,  which  I  ate  and 
found  excellent,  and  apples ;  for  supper  more 
coffee,  bread,  sausage,  and  cheese.  There  is 
a  canteen  where  all  sorts  of  delicatessen  and 
soft  drinks  may  be  bought  at  cost. 

The  food  is  the  same  in  quality,  but  more 
generous  in  quantity  than  that  given  to  the 
German  troops.  The  complaints  come  chiefly 
from  the  English,  who  are  used  to  far  more 
meat  and  far  greater  variety.  I  asked  one 
of  the  prisoners  at  Miinchberg,  who  in  hap- 
pier times  is  Professor  of  Philosophy  at  the 
University  of  Brest,  how  he  found  things. 
He  told  me  that  there  was  enough  food,  but 


is       The  Heel  of  War 

that  the  menu  was  extremely  monotonous. 
"Actually,  Monsieur,"  he  said,  "the  only 
real  complaint  that  one  can  make  is  that  one 
is  a  prisoner." 

There  seemed  to  be  the  best  of  good  feeling 
between  the  French  and  Eussian  prisoners, 
although  the  latter,  for  the  most  part  peas- 
ants, were  obviously  far  below  the  former  in 
intelligence.  All  the  prisoners  are  required 
to  take  a  monthly  bath,  and  may  bathe  as 
often  as  they  like.  The  French  keep  the 
bathrooms  constantly  employed,  while  the 
Russians  have  to  be  driven  there  almost  at 
the  point  of  the  bayonet.  The  bathrooms,  as 
well  as  the  barracks  and  mess  room,  are 
steam  heated  and  well  lighted. 

Work  has  been  found  for  a  large  propor- 
tion of  the  prisoners  at  all  the  camps,  in  rail- 
way construction,  on  the  fields,  and  in  va- 
rious town  industries.  It  is  purely  volun- 


Germany  19 

tary,  no  prisoner  being  required  to  work  un- 
less he  wants  to,  and  each  being  paid  65 
pfennigs  and  an  extra  meal  for  each  day's 
labor.  In  view  of  the  fact  that  the  German 
private  receives  from  33  to  60  pfennigs  per 
day,  the  French  soldier  about  the  same,  and 
the  Russian  soldier  even  less,  the  pay  is  not 
so  bad,  although,  of  course,  far  below  the 
normal  rate  of  German  wages.  The  British 
prisoners  generally  decline  to  work,  but  the 
French  and  Russians  do  so  willingly.  In 
many  cases  the  prisoners  go  to  and  from 
their  work  unguarded  and  seem  quite  happy 
and  contented.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the 
Russian  moujiks  are  better  off  than  they 
have  ever  been  in  their  lives,  for  they  not 
only  receive  rather  better  wages  than  they 
have  received  in  Russia,  but  in  addition  are 
housed,  clothed,  and  fed  in  greater  comfort 
than  they  have  ever  known. 


20       The  Heel  of  War 

The  French  prisoners  receive  from  home 
an  average  of  10  marks,  or  $2.50,  and  two 
packages  a  month  per  man.  Since  the  war 
began  the  Russian  prisoners  have  received 
absolutely  nothing,  either  from  their  friends 
at  home  or  from  the  Russian  Government. 
Despite  this  fact,  and  while  the  French  send 
no  money  back  to  France,  the  Russians  send 
home  almost  all  the  money  they  earn  as  agri- 
cultural laborers. 

The  Russian  prisoners  kill  time  in  sleeping 
or  gossiping ;  ^  the  French  have  devised  a 
number  of  amusements,  chief  among  which 
is  theatricals,  the  plays  being  written,  man- 
aged, and  acted  and  the  scenery  painted  by 
the  prisoners  themselves. 

I  saw  a  very  amusing  one-act  farce  at  the 
"  Grand  Theatre  de  Miinchberg,"  written  by 
a  professional  playwright  and  acted  by  a 
company  drilled  by  a  Paris  manager,  who 


Germany  21 

had  for  leading  man  and  leading  "lady"  two 
well-known  provincial  actors. 

There  was  great  excitement  because  of  the 
rumor  that  a  draft  of  prisoners  which  was 
expected  the  next  week  would  contain  a  well- 
known  tenor  and  two  violinists. 

"With  the  material  that  I  already  have," 
the  manager  told  me,  "I  shall  be  able  to  pro- 
duce grand  opera.  I  have  a  trombone,  a 
kettle  drum  and  a  baritone,  and  with  a 
chorus  drawn  from  the  Russians,  most  of 
whom  have  voices,  I  shall  do  very  well.  My 
only  weakness  is  in  composers.  I  have  one, 
but  he  has  never  written  anything  more  than 
cabaret  songs.  He  has  ambitions,  and  per- 
haps he  will  do.  We  can,  after  all,  only 
hope.  There  are  other  camps  that  have  giv- 
en opera  bouffe,  but  if  we  succeed  we  shall 
be  the  only  one  that  has  attempted  grand 
opera." 


CHAPTER  II 


Great  admiration  felt  for  rank  and  file  of  British 
soldiers,  and  for  the  ignorant  bravery  of  officers. 
Italy  considered  negligible.  Russians  are  particu- 
larly courageous.  Ill-feeling  toward  France.  Sar- 
prise  at  unfriendly  attitude  of  United  States  press. 
Birth  of  "two  schools  of  thought":  (I)  Annexa- 
tionists,  who  wish  to  hold  all  land  already  gained, 
and  (2)  Anti=annexationists,  who  want  only  cer- 
tain naval  stations  and  such  territory  as  will  hold 
England  in  check.  Possible  adjustments  in  other 
interested  nations  after  the  war. 

WHAT  is  even    more    impressive 
than   the   apparent   economic 
strength  of  the  empire  is  the 
confidence  of  the  German  people  in  the  out- 
come of  the  war.    During  the  time  I  was  in 
Germany  I  talked  with  a  great  number  of 
Germans,  of  all  walks  and  conditions  of  life, 
from  the  highest  to  the  lowest.    All  alike, 
statesmen  and  soldiers,  professional  men  and 

22 


Germany  23 

merchants,  shopkeepers  and  hotel  waiters, 
cab  drivers  and  car  conductors,  expressed 
the  same  absolute  certainty  of  German  vic- 
tory. It  is  not  a  matter  of  opinion  or  of 
hope  with  them,  as  it  is  with  the  optimistic 
in  the  olher  warring  countries,  but  a  f  eeling 
that  it  is  no  more  possible  for  Germany  to 
lose  than  it  is  for  the  sun  to  set  in  the  east. 
They  are  so  certain  of  victory  that  they 
know  it  is  coming,  just  as  they  know  that 
spring  follows  winter.  No  German  ever 
says  "If  we  win,"  but  always  "When  we 


win.' 


The  English  press  has  brushed  aside  the 
German  feeling  of  certainty  in  success  by 
saying  that  the  truth  has  been  withheld  from 
the  people  by  Government  order,  and  that 
they  have  been  fed  on  lies  so  long  that  they 
have  at  last  believed  them.  This  explana- 
tion does  not  explain  the  phenomenon  of 


24       The  Heel  of  War 

German  confidence,  for  the  very  good  reason 
that  it  is  not  true.  In  England  and  Italy 
the  enemy's  war  bulletins  are  only  printed 
after  having  been  revised  by  the  censor,  and 
are  not  printed  at  all  either  in  France  or 
Russia,  while  in  none  of  the  allied  countries 
can  any  German  newspaper  or  book  dealing 
with  the  war  be  obtained. 

Not  only  do  the  German  newspapers  print 
every  day  the  war  bulletins  of  the  Allies,  just 
as  issued,  but  in  Germany  alone  of  all  the 
warring  countries  can  the  enemies'  newspa- 
pers and  books  be  bought.  I  nowhere  in 
Germany  had  any  difficulty  in  buying  the 
English,  French,  or  even  Italian  newspapers, 
or  any  of  the  more  recent  and  successful 
French  and  English  publications  on  the  war. 

The  result  of  this  feeling  of  certainty 
which  is  reflected  in  the  German  press  is  a 
sentiment  of  greater  tolerance  toward  their 


Germany.  25 

enemies  than  is  shown  by  the  latter  toward 
the  Central  Empires. 

The  hatred  of  the  English  for  the  Germans 
is  heartily  reciprocated,  yet  it  is  only  fair  to 
say  that  the  spirit  of  hate  is  expressed  less 
violently  in  Germany  than  it  is  in  Great 
Britain.  Germans  believe  that  Great  Bri- 
tain brought  on  the  war,  and  that  but  for  her 
the  peace  might  have  been  kept  for  another 
decade  at  least.  They  realize  that  the  war  is 
a  struggle  for  supremacy  between  Germany 
and  Great  Britain,  and  that  the  war's  out- 
come will  determine  the  fate  of  the  world  for 
many  years  to  come.  Such  being  the  case, 
their  every  energy  is  concentrated  on  the  de- 
feat of  England  as  the  ultimate  end  of  hos- 
tilities, the  defeat  of  the  other  Allies  being 
merely  incidental  and  preparatory  to  the 
main  purpose  of  what  they  consider  a  purely 
defensive  struggle. 


26       The  Heel  of  War 

The  excellence  of  the  British  Tommy  is 
everywhere  acknowledged,  while  the  reck- 
less but  ignorant  bravery  of  the  British 
officers  is  always  spoken  of  with  the  greatest 
admiration,  the  regret  being  often  heard  that 
men  so  gallant  should  be  so  incompetent. 

Italy's  part  in  the  struggle  is  regarded  as 
being  nearly  negligible,  for  General  Cador- 
na,  although  outnumbering  his  opponents 
nearly  four  to  one,  is  said  to  have  thus  far 
failed  to  even  dent  their  line  of  defense.  Said 
a  prominent  German  to  me :  1 1  Besides  some- 
what delaying  the  end  of  the  war,  the  only 
real  result  accomplished  by  Italy's  participa- 
tion has  been  to  make  it  popular  in  Austria- 
Hungary.  Before  Italy  joined  the  Allies 
the  Austro-Hungarian  people,  who  had 
never  been  very  enthusiastic,  were  growing 
rather  tired  of  the  war.  But  such  is  the 
Austro-Hungarian  hatred  for  the  Italians 


Germany  27 

that  the  moment  the  latter  violated  the  terms 
of  the  Triple  Alliance  and  embarked  on  their 
struggle  for  the  acquisition  of  Austrian  ter- 
ritory the  Austrian  and  Hungarian  peoples, 
Germans,  Magyars,  and  Slavs  alike,  all  be- 
came enthusiastically  eager  to  humble 
Italy." 

Italy's  declaration  of  war,  while  angering 
the  German  people,  has  not  evoked  the  same 
hatred  that  is  felt  toward  England.  Ger- 
mans profess  to  feel  more  contempt  than 
hatred  for  the  Italians,  whom  they  refuse  to 
regard  very  seriously.  For  Russia  there  is 
felt  considerable  respect.  Her  troops  are 
considered  excellent  as  defensive  fighters, 
patient,  brave,  and  of  great  endurance.  Like 
the  English,  they  are  said  to  be  badly  offi- 
cered, but  nevertheless  all  German  soldiers 
agree  that  every  one  of  von  Hindenburg's 
victories  has  been  the  result  of  the  very  hard- 


28       The  Heel  of  War 

est  kind  of  fighting.  The  Eussians  have 
often  been  defeated,  but  never  disgraced. 

Mcolai  Mcolaievitch  is,  however,  severely 
blamed  for  the  policy  he  has  consistently  fol- 
lowed during  his  long  and  constant  retreat 
of  destroying  every  village  he  has  aban- 
doned, laying  waste  the  country,  and  bar- 
barously maltreating  the  people. 

The  feeling  toward  France  is  one  of  deep 
respect  and  unbounded  admiration.  Joffre 
is  considered  to  be  one  of  the  greatest  Gen- 
erals the  war  has  produced,  and  his  armies 
are  praised  without  stint  for  their  morale, 
their  endurance,  and  their  bravery. 

Upon  four  points  the  Germans  feel  bit- 
terly toward  the  French.  The  first  is  the 
employment  of  African  troops,  who  have 
brought  to  Europe,  as  have  some  of  the  Brit- 
ish "native  contingents,"  the  savage  war- 
fare of  their  native  jungles ;  the  second  is  the 


Germany  29 

refusal  of  the  French  to  permit  the  bringing 
in  of  the  wounded  from  between  the  lines  of 
fire,  which  results  in  untold  and  needless  suf- 
fering, and  adds  another  unnecessary  horror 
to  modern  warfare ;  the  third  is  the  intern- 
ment of  German  women  who  were  found  in 
France  at  the  outbreak  of  the  war,  although 
Germany  has  never  interned  French  women ; 
and  the  fourth  is  the  ill-treatment  of  Ger- 
man prisoners  at  the  beginning  of  the  war. 
Latterly,  thanks  entirely  to  the  efforts  of 
our  embassy  at  Berlin,  the  condition  of  the 
prison  camps  in  France  has  been  somewhat 
improved. 

As  an  offset  to  the  ill-feeling  toward 
France  is  the  general  belief  that  had  France 
been  let  alone  by  England  she  would  not  have 
entered  the  war.  England  is  regarded  as  the 
marplot  of  Europe,  who  not  only  forced  the 
war  on  Germany,  but  induced  and  forced 


30 


The  Heel  of  War 


France,  Russia,  and  Italy  to  join  her.  Tak- 
ing advantage  of  the  French  desire  for  "la 
revanche,"  she  is  alleged  to  have  finally  per- 
suaded unwilling  France  to  pull  England's 
chestnuts  out  of  the  fire. 

"Of  all  the  Allies  France  is  the  only  one 
who  entered  the  war  with  a  valid  excuse,"  a 
German  friend  of  mine  said  to  me.  "Re- 
venge as  a  casus  belli  may  not  be  admirable, 
but  it  is  at  least  respectable,  which  is  more 
than  can  be  said  for  the  motives  actuating 
either  England,  Italy,  or  Russia. " 

The  German  sentiment  toward  the  United 
States  can  best  be  described  as  one  of  pained 
astonishment.  Germans  cannot  understand 
why  the  majority  of  American  newspapers 
and  so  many  of  the  American  people  are  so 
strongly  pro-ally.  They  cannot  understand 
the  constant  talk  in  American  newspapers 
of  the  violation  of  Belgian  neutrality  by  the 


Germany  31 

German  Army,  of  the  so-called  "Belgian 
atrocities,"  and  of  the  Zeppelin  raids,  any 
more  than  they  can  understand  the  failure 
of  so  many  of  our  newspapers  to  print  the 
German  side  of  the  case. 

Every  German  believes  that  when  the  Ger- 
man Army  entered  Belgium  that  country 
had  already  surrendered  her  neutrality ;  that 
the  so-called  Belgian  atrocities  never  oc- 
curred, and  that,  on  the  other  hand,  what 
are  called  in  Germany  the  Russian  and  Afri- 
can atrocities  are  unspeakably  horrible,  and 
that  the  Zeppelin  raids  were  only  under- 
taken in  reprisal  for  the  French  raids  on 
Freiburg  of  Aug.  2  and  3,  1914,  before  the 
war  had  technically  begun. 

No  German  with  whom  I  talked  expressed 
himself  in  favor  of  war  with  the  United 
States ;  on  the  contrary,  all  seemed  honestly 
in  favor  of  the  maintenance  of  peace.  It 


32       The  Heel  of  War 

seemed  to  be  the  general  impression  that 
some  way,  honorable  to  both  nations,  would 
be  found  out  of  the  submarine  difficulty,  al- 
though we  are  considered  as  unreasonable 
in  insisting  that  the  presence  of  a  single 
American  passenger  should  give  a  ship  im- 
munity from  being  torpedoed  without  warn- 
ing in  the  war  zone. 

On  the  question  of  the  export  of  arms  and 
ammunition  there  is  a  feeling  of  great  dis- 
appointment and  sorrow  at  what  is  generally 
considered  our  national  unfriendliness.  The 
technical  and  legal  right  of  United  States 
citizens  to  export  war  material  is  conceded, 
but  it  is  felt  that  while  it  is  not  in  violation 
of  the  letter  it  is  in  violation  of  the  spirit  of 
neutrality.  Germans  argue  that  it  is  on  all 
fours  with  the  lending  of  money  to  the  bel- 
ligerents, and  deeply  regret  that  the  Presi- 
dent did  not  see  his  way  clear  to  follow  up 


Germany  33 

his  disapproval  of  loans  to  the  combatants 
by  forbidding  the  trade  in  arms. 

Latterly  the  German  press  has  been  far 
more  moderate  in  its  tone  toward  the  United 
States  than  has  been  the  American  press  in 
its  attitude  toward  Germany.  Nevertheless, 
the  German  people  are  firmly  convinced  that 
the  shells  which  are  killing  and  maiming 
their  sons  are  made  in  the  United  States 
and  that  for  the  sake  of  the  " blood  money" 
we  receive  we  are  unwilling  to  forbid  the 
traffic.  No  one  in  Germany  wants  war  with 
the  United  States ;  very  few  Americans  want 
war  with  Germany.  They  insist  that  it  is  a 
great  pity  that,  if  the  peace  is  to  be  pre- 
served, which,  thanks  to  German  and  Ameri- 
can good  sense,  it  doubtless  will  be,  we  should 
not  retain  German  friendship. 

They  point  out  that,  thanks  to  our  export 
of  arms  to  the  Allies,  we  have  already  lost 


34       The  Heel  of  War 

any  possibility  of  playing  an  important  role 
single  handed  when  peace  comes.  German 
friendship,  they  say,  even  from  the  purely 
selfish  standpoint,  is  well  worth  retaining, 
for  after  the  war  a  friendly  Germany  will 
be  a  far  more  valuable  asset  in  our  national 
development  than  a  Germany  that  believes 
that  we  sold  ourselves  to  her  enemies  and 
did  our  best  to  prolong  the  war. 

Most  Germans  expect  von  Hindenburg  to 
bring  the  Russian  campaign  to  a  speedy  con- 
clusion. It  is  thought  that  he  will  either  cap- 
ture Eiga  and  Yilna  and  then  dig  himself 
in,  or  if  the  reduction  of  these  two  places 
takes  too  long,  dig  himself  in  on  his  present 
line,  without  making  any  immediate  effort, 
as  some  have  suggested,  to  capture  either 
Petrograd,  Moscow,  or  Odessa. 

What  interests  intelligent  Germans  is  not 
so  much  whether  von  Hindenburg  will  dig 


Germany  35 

himself  in  this  week  or  next,  to-day  or  a 
month  hence,  as  what  will  the  General  Staff 
do  with  his ' 1  striking  force ' '  when  it  has  been 
released  from  the  eastern  front. 

It  is  generally  supposed  that  when  the 
eastern  armies  have  been  "dug  in"  1,000,000 
men  can  hold  the  line,  and  that  there  will  be 
available  for  use  elsewhere  a  German- Aus- 
tro-Hungarian  force  of  nearly  2,000,000. 
The  German  part  of  this  force  has  been 
checked,  but  never  defeated,  and  has  won  the 
two  most  overwhelming  victories  in  history 
in  actual  losses  in  killed  and  wounded,  the 
battles  of  Tannenberg  and  the  Masurian 
Lakes.  For  months  the  Austro-Hungarians 
have  also  been  constantly  victorious.  This 
vast  army,  or  rather  group  of  armies,  which 
has  become  saturated  with  the  belief  that 
under  the  Generals  whom  it  trusts  and  loves 
— von  Hindenburg,  von  Mackensen,  von  Lu- 


36        The  Heel  of  War 

dendorf ,  and  the  rest — it  is  absolutely  in- 
vincible, may  be  employed  in  several  differ- 
ent ways. 

The  greater  part  of  it  may  be  used  in  a 
drive  against  Calais,  or  through  Serbia,  in 
the  effort  to  force  the  French-English  ex- 
pedition into  the  sea  and  to  capture  the  Suez 
Canal.  Many  think  that  the  western  front 
will  be  strengthened,  for  latterly  a  part  of  it 
has  been  held  with  only  a  single  line,  without 
reserves,  while  the  main  effort  will  be  made 
against  the  expeditionary  force  in  Gallipoli. 

Russia  is  supposed  to  have  been  put  out  of 
the  reckoning  for  some  months  to  come,  and 
there  are  those  who  think  it  possible  that 
before  next  summer  she  may  be  forced  to 
make  a  separate  peace.  It  is,  however,  gen- 
erally believed  that,  for  the  present  at  least, 
she  will  not  cause  the  Central  Empires  any 
serious  anxiety.  If  the  Allies  at  Gallipoli 


Germany  37 

can  be  driven  into  the  sea  before  spring,  Bus- 
sia's  hope  of  relief  via  the  Bosporus  will 
have  been  shattered  and  a  separate  peace 
will  have  been  brought  nearer. 

Germans  believe  that  if  a  separate  peace 
can  be  forced  upon  one  of  the  Allies  peace 
with  the  others  must  follow  as  a  matter  of 
course.  Peace  with  Russia  is  expected  first, 
then  with  France,  and  finally  with  England. 
Peace  with  Serbia  and  Italy  are  considered 
certain  whenever  the  Central  Empires  can 
spare  half  a  million  men  for  the  purpose. 
How  long  the  war  will  last  no  one  in  Ger- 
many is  willing  to  predict.  There  are  those 
who  are  hopeful  enough  to  think  that  it  will 
be  over  in  another  year,  but  all  realize  that 
the  real  end  of  the  war  and  the  lasting  peace 
which  all  Germans  hope  for  can  only  be 
reached  when  England  has  been  brought  to 
her  knees. 


38       The  Heel  of  War 

It  is  the  f  asMon  among  those  who  espouse 
the  cause  of  the  Allies  to  assume  that  be- 
cause Great  Britain  is  the  richest  nation  and 
because  she  is,  and  for  over  a  century  has 
been,  the  mistress  of  the  seas,  she  must  of 
necessity  destroy  the  power  of  Germany. 
Whether  or  not  this  assumption  is  well 
founded,  it  is  quite  certain  that  no  German 
for  a  moment  supports  it.  The  German  be- 
lief is  that  it  is  not  only  possible,  but  certain, 
that  England's  allies  will  be  defeated  in  de- 
tail, leaving  at  the  last  the  Central  Empires 
and  England  alone  and  face  to  face  in  a  final 
life-and-death  struggle. 

The  Germans  hold  that  this  final  struggle 
must  end  in  the  discomfiture  of  Great  Bri- 
tain. Deprived  of  her  allies  and  faced  with 
the  united  force  of  the  two  great  Central 
Empires,  who  are  self -containing  and  self- 
supporting,  with  the  Suez  Canal  and  Egypt 


Germany  39 

gone  and  India  threatened,  they  cannot  be- 
lieve that  the  English  people  will  refuse  to 
make  peace. 

There  is  a  saying  in  Germany  that  "Great 
Britain  will  never  surrender  as  long  as  there 
is  a  single  Frenchman  left,  or  a  single  Ameri- 
can dollar  unspent. ' '  The  Germans  say  that 
when  the  Allies  are  crushed  and  American 
profits  curtailed,  so  that  it  will  no  longer  be 
worth  our  while  to  support  the  English 
cause,  when  in  short  Great  Britain  finds  it 
impossible  to  make  other  people  fight  her 
battles  for  her  and  is  obliged  to  place  in  the 
field  what  the  Germans  call  " Kitchener's 
mythical  millions,"  in  other  words,  when  she 
must  fight  alone,  as  she  is  charged  with  never 
having  done  in  modern  times,  then,  and  not 
till  then,  is  it  expected  that  she  will  be  will- 
ing to  make  peace  on  terms  that  will  endure 
beyond  the  lives  of  the  present  generation. 


40       The  Heel  of  War 

So  certain  are  the  German  people  of  ul- 
timate success  that  the  terms  of  peace  are 
already  being  generally  and  seriously  dis- 
cussed. The  Germans  are  rapidly  grouping 
themselves  into  two  loosely  organized  par- 
ties, or  schools  of  thought,  on  the  question  of 
what  the  terms  of  peace  should  be.  For 
want  of  better  designations  these  may  be 
called  the  "annexationists"  and  the  "anti- 
annexationists. ' ' 

The  annexationists  are  led  by  what  is 
called  the  "Krupp  crowd,"  and  the  chief 
agrarians,  and  include  practically  all  the 
leading  industrials  and  landowners  in  the 
empire. 

The  annexationist  movement  started  at 
Essen  with  the  insistence  that  Belgium  and 
Northern  France  must  be  retained,  so  as  to 
have  in  German  hands  a  virtual  monopoly 
of  the  coal  and  iron  m?nes  of  Western  Con- 


Germany  41 

tinental  Europe.  Just  as  the  present  Ger- 
man tariff  law  was  enacted  by  the  joint  ef- 
forts of  the  great  industrials  and  landown- 
ers, so  in  the  present  instance  the  annexa- 
tionist  movement  has  included  the  same 
forces.  The  great  landowners  seriously  ob- 
jected to  the  retention  of  Belgium  and 
Northern  France  because  of  the  resulting 
and  large  increase  in  the  industrial  vote  that 
would  follow  unless  this  increase  should  be 
compensated  by  the  retention  of  agricultural 
Poland,  with  its  population  of  16,000,000 
peasants.  Both  interests  have  combined 
and  jointly  advocate  the  retention  of  every 
inch  of  occupied  territory. 

The  annexationists  may  be  said  to  include 
what  we  would  call  the '  '  interests, ' '  who,  hav- 
ing vast  capital  at  their  disposal,  are  able  to 
make  a  showing  which  seems  to  be  dispro- 
portionate to  their  actual  strength. 


42       The  Heel  of  War 

The  anti-annexationists  include  most  of 
the  army,  the  non-industrial  middle  class,  the 
vast  mass  of  the  people,  and,  if  rumor  be 
correct,  the  Chancellor,  and — the  Kaiser.  In 
other  words,  the  struggle  seems  to  be  between 
certain  great  aggregations  of  wealth  on  the 
one  hand  and  the  rest  of  Germany  on  the 
other,  with  the  almost  certainty  that  the  self- 
ish and  short-sighted  ambitions  of  the  inter- 
ests will  be  defeated. 

The  anti-annexationists  agree  that  as  Ger- 
many is  fighting  for  self-preservation  in  a 
war  that  was  forced  upon  her  after  years  of 
preparation  on  the  part  of  her  enemies,  she 
will  be  justified  in  exacting  peace  terms  that 
will  for  a  generation  at  least  insure  the 
peace  and  curtail  British  supremacy.  No 
peace  can  be  lasting  that  ignores  the  claims 
of  nationality,  therefore  the  peace  when  it 


Germany  43 

comes  must  be  founded  upon  nationality  as 
its  base. 

England  went  to  war  loudly  proclaiming 
the  rights  of  the  small  nations,  say  the  Ger- 
mans, and  forthwith  destroyed  the  newest 
small  nation  of  them  all — Albania — to  sat- 
isfy the  greed  of  her  ally,  Italy.  Germany 
must  and  will  be  more  consistent  if  the  anti- 
annexationists  have  their  way. 

The  greatest  sinner  against  the  spirit  of 
nationality  has  been  Russia.  The  misgov- 
erned and  oppressed  Finns  will  be  taken 
from  their  master,  and,  being  too  small  and 
weak  to  stand  alone,  will  be  joined  with  Swe- 
den in  a  loose  autonomous  union.  The  three 
million  Germans  in  the  Baltic  provinces  will 
be  joined  to  Germany,  and  this  will  be  the 
only  territorial  increase  that  Germany  will 
insist  upon  under  the  anti-annexationist  pro- 
gram. The  Russian  Germans  have  been  ill- 


44       The  Heel  of  War 

treated  by  the  Czar's  Government,  oppressed 
and  exploited  as  an  alien  and  conquered  race. 
Their  annexation  will  merely  be  the  recogni- 
tion of  their  national  and  racial  aspirations. 
Poland  united  with  Galicia,  and  with,  per- 
haps, a  part  of  Prussian  Poland,  will  be 
erected  into  an  independent  monarchy,  of 
which  the  Emperor  of  Austria  will  be 
crowned  king,  and  constitute  a  third  part 
of  a  new  Austro-Hungarian-Polish  empire. 
Strangely  enough,  except  from  the  annexa- 
tionists,  the  only  objection  to  this  plan  comes 
from  Austria.  The  anti-annexationists  do 
not  want  Poland  as  a  part  of  the  German 
Empire,  but  prefer  her  as  a  buffer  State 
between  Prussia  and  Russia.  The  Poles 
themselves  prefer  to  constitute  an  integral 
part  of  the  Austrian  Empire  to  either  mem- 
bership in  the  German  Empire  or  absolute 
independence,  but  the  Austrian  Germans 


Germany  45 

bitterly  object  to  the  arrangement.  They 
urge,  with  a  great  deal  of  force,  that  if  16,- 
000,000  Polish  Slavs  are  to  be  added  to  the 
domains  of  the  Hapsburgs,  the  Slav  element 
will  so  greatly  outnumber  both  the  Germans 
and  Magyars  that  the  empire  will  become  al- 
most as  much  a  Blav  nation  as  is  Russia. 
Because  of  this  objection  it  may  be  neces- 
sary, the  anti-annexationists  believe,  to  con- 
stitute Poland  an  independent  buffer  State 
under  the  joint  protection  of  both  Austria- 
Hungary  and  Germany. 

France,  for  whom  nothing  but  sympathy 
and  admiration  is  expressed,  will  at  least, 
as  far  as  the  Continent  is  concerned,  be  left 
in  her  status  quo  ante  bellum.  Calais  will  be 
taken  from  England  and  given  back  to 
France,  for  no  German  believes  that  France 
will  ever  recover  Calais  except  by  the  force 
of  German  arms,  and  the  northern  provinces 


46       The  Heel  of  War 

will  be  restored.  No  indemnity  will  be 
exacted  from  France  or  any  other  nation,  for 
it  is  not  believed  that  any  will  be  in  a  posi- 
tion to  pay.  The  "lost  provinces"  will  not 
be  restored,  for  it  is  not  believed  that  their 
people,  who  are  fighting  so  gallantly  and  loy- 
ally for  the  empire,  would  for  a  moment  con- 
sent to  the  transfer. 

Italy  is  to  be  deprived  of  Albania,  the 
islands  in  the  -<3Egean  that  she  promised  to 
give  up  and  did  not,  and  of  her  colonies. 
The  punishment  of  what  Germany  calls  her 
treachery  will  be  left  to  England.  Great 
Britain's  efforts  to  secure  the  repayment  of 
the  money  which  she  has  loaned  the  Italian 
Government,  added  to  the  wastage  and  de- 
struction of  the  war,  are  expected  to  reduce 
Italy  to  such  poverty  and  misery  that  for  a 
century  at  least  her  ambitions  need  not  be 
feared. 


Germany  47 

From  Great  Britain  the  anti-annexation- 
ists  propose  to  take  back  the  colonies  lost 
during  the  war,  exchanging  them  here  and 
there  for  mutual  convenience.  In  addition, 
they  hope  to  receive  naval  stations  in  differ- 
ent parts  of  the  world,  so  that  Germany  may 
share  with  England  in  the  supremacy  of  the 
seas.  "We  are  fighting  for  the  freedom  o/f 
the  seas, ' '  say  the  anti-annexationists.  '  i  We 
do  not  want  a  monopoly  of  the  world's  com- 
merce, but  we  insist  that  England  should 
cease  her  dog-in-the-manger  policy  and  per- 
mit the  rest  of  the  world  to  share  in  what  is 
her  exclusive  property  neither  by  law  nor 
equity.  If  England  is  willing  to*  concede 
to  us  the  necessary  naval  stations,  then  Bel- 
gium will  be  returned  to  the  Belgians,  al- 
ways excepting  a  small  strip  of  land  between 
Liege  and  Herbersthal,  which  for  strategical 
purposes  we  shall  be  obliged  to  retain.  If 


48       The  Heel  of  War 

England  refuses  our  just  demands  then, 
much  against  our  will,  we  shall  be  forced 
permanently  to  retain  Belgium  and  to  for- 
tify her  coast  against  British  aggression." 

In  the  Balkans  the  annexationist  rear- 
rangement of  boundaries  will  be  governed 
by  the  principle  of  nationality  and  also  by 
the  attitude  of  the  Balkan  powers  during  the 
war.  Bulgaria  will,  of  course,  receive  large 
territorial  compensations  for  having  entered 
the  war,  while  the  neutrality  of  Greece  will 
be  rewarded  with  the  union  of  the  neighbor- 
ing tribes  of  Greek  nationality.  Rumania, 
who  has  played  with  both  sides  and  been  true 
to  neither,  will  be  left  alone,  unless  at  the 
last  moment  she  throws  in  her  lot  with  the 
Central  Empires.  A  part  of  Serbia  and  Al- 
bania will  be  annexed  to  the  Slav  dominions 
of  the  Dual  Monarchy,  which  by  the  addi- 
tion of  Poland  will  become  a  Trial  Mon- 


Germany  49 

archy,  and  may  even  be  reorganized  still 
further  by  the  constitution  of  a  fourth  au- 
tonomous kingdom  of  Slavs,  including  Bos- 
nia, Herzegovina,  Croatia,  and  parts  of  Al- 
bania and  Serbia. 

In  Africa  and  Asia  the  policy  of  recogniz- 
ing nationalities  is  to  be  carried  still  further 
and  a  series  of  Mohammedan  empires  is  to 
be  created  under  the  aegis  of  Germany,  to 
act  as  buffer  States  against  British  aggres- 
sion. 

The  Sultan  of  Turkey  is  to  be  restored  to 
his  ancient  authority  as  Caliph  in  the  Mo- 
hammedan world,  Persia  is  to  be  freed  from 
British  and  Russian  intrigue  and  reorgan- 
ized as  a  modern  Moslem  State.  North 
Africa,  with  the  exception  of  Algeria  and 
Tunis,  which  are  to  be  left  to  France,  will 
be  divided  between  the  Sultanates  of  Egypt 
and  Morocco.  It  can  be  readily  seen  that 


so       The  Heel  of  War 

while  the  anti-annexationist  ambitions  are 
extremely  limited  in  the  direction  of  terri- 
torial acquisitions  they  are  designed  with  the 
purpose  of  forcing  from  Great  Britain  a 
part  of  her  world  rulership. 

Germany  has  succeeded  in  establishing 
her  influence  beyond  dispute  in  Constanti- 
nople. If  she  wins  the  war  that  influence 
without  much  doubt  can  be  extended  around 
the  Mediterranean  and  across  Asia  Minor. 
What  Germany  needs  for  her  economic  de- 
velopment is  not  only  colonies,  although  they 
are  most  important,  but  also  markets  for 
her  products.  If  these  can  be  obtained 
through  the  friendship  of  a  number  of  Mo- 
hammedan empires  under  German  influence 
she  will  have  succeeded  in  displacing  Great 
Britain  from  her  position  as  the  first  Mo- 
hammedan power  and  in  sharing  with  her 
the  commercial  hegemony  of  the  world. 


Germany  51 

The  anti-annexationists,  like  all  Germans, 
insist  that  Germany  has  no  ambition  to  be- 
come the  ruling  nation  of  the  earth.  That 
she  merely  desires  to  obtain  from  Great  Bri- 
tain a  fair  share  of  the  world's  commerce, 
and  that  in  striving  to  displace  England 
from  her  position  of  mistress  of  the  seas 
she  is  fighting  the  battle  of  all  the  nations 
against  British  despotism. 


CHAPTER  III 

BELGIUM  UNDER  GERMAN  RULE 

Conditions  are  not  abnormal  in  any  way.  Unemploy- 
ment exists  because  capitalist  class  will  not  resume 
usual  industrial  activities.  Train  service  superior 
to  that  of  France.  Crops  unusually  abundant. 
Plenty  of  native  labor  to  gather  it.  No  lack  of 
cattle,  sheep  or  poultry.  Newspapers  running  as 
usual.  No  rigid  censorship  in  evidence.  In  fact 
there  is  little  to  suggest  German  occupation.  Effec* 
tiveness  of  Belgian  Red  Cross  Organization.  Ex= 
eel  lent  work  of  American  Relief  Commission. 

I   WISH  that  it  were  possible  that  we 
might  cross  Belgium  on  our  way  to 
Holland,"  I  said  to  a  friend  of  mine 
who  occupies  a  high  position  in  the  German 
Imperial  Government. 

"  There  is  nothing  easier  than  to  arrange 
it  for  you,"  he  replied,  "but  for  your  wife 
is  an  entirely  different  matter.  With  the  ex- 
ception of  some  nurses,  no  ladies  other  than 
Belgian  have  been  allowed  to  cross  into  Bel- 

52 


Belgium  53 

gium  since  the  war  began.  However,  one 
can  but  try,  and  I  shall  telegraph  for  per- 
mission to  the  Military  Government  at  Brus- 
sels." 

In  twenty-four  hours  the  permission  came, 
and  in  twenty-four  hours  more  we  were  on 
our  way. 

We  broke  the  journey  at  Koln  and,  accom- 
panied by  five  trunks,  left  there  at  8  o  'clock 
the  next  morning  on  one  of  the  three  daily 
express  trains,  which,  with  their  dining  cars, 
run  through  to  Lille  via  Liege,  Louvain,  and 
Brussels.  There  were  three  other  civilian 
passengers  on  board,  and  all  the  rest  were 
officers  and  men  returning  to  the  trenches 
after  a  fortnight's  leave,  for  Germany  has 
enough  troops  to  allow  each  man  at  the  front 
two  weeks'  leave  every  six  months. 

We  crossed  the  frontier  at  Herbersthal, 
the  formalities  being  about  the  same  as  those 


54       The  Heel  of  War 

in  force  on  entering  Kussia  in  time  of  peace, 
except  that  our  luggage  was  not  opened. 

Our  railway  followed  the  route  of  the  Ger- 
man Army  on  its  march  to  Brussels,  and 
signs  of  fighting  were  still  apparent.  There 
are  many  graves  by  the  roadside  and  in  the 
fields,  those  of  the  German  and  Belgian  dead 
marked  in  the  same  way,  with  a  little  cross, 
bearing  a  number  which  corresponds  to  an 
entry  in  the  official  records,  which  gives  the 
tag  numbers  of  all  those  in  each  grave.  Many 
of  the  villages  show  signs  of  shell  fire,  and 
many  of  the  railway  stations  have  evidently 
been  recently  rebuilt. 

The  train  service  is  greatly  reduced  from 
the  normal,  yet  there  are  more  express 
trains,  and  more  dining  and  sleeping  cars 
running  from  Germany  through  Belgium  to 
within  ten  miles  of  the  firing  line,  than  there 
are  in  France.  In  the  latter  country  there 


Belgium  55 

is  seldom  more  than  one  through  train  run 
between  the  principal  points  each  twenty- 
four  hours,  while  in  Belgium  the  chief  routes 
are  served  by  from  two  to  six  trains  daily. 

When  the  Germans  entered  Belgium  the 
Belgian  railway  employes  almost  all  disap- 
peared. It  was,  therefore,  necessary  for  the 
Imperial  Government  entirely  to  reorganize 
the  service,  which  has  been  effectively  done 
with  a  German  personnel. 

The  French  names  of  the  stations  have 
German  equivalents  substituted.  Thus  Lou- 
vain  becomes  Lowen,  Liege  becomes  Liittich, 
and  Anvers  becomes  Antwerpen. 

The  railway  fares  have  all  been  raised,  as 
they  have  everywhere  on  the  Continent,  and 
luggage  is  taxed  not  by  weight  as  formerly, 
but  at  the  rate  of  2.50  francs  per  trunk.  On 
the  railways,  as  everywhere  else  in  Belgium, 
both  German  and  Belgian  money  circulate 


56        The  Heel  of  War 

side  by  side  at  the  rate  of  one  mark  equal  to 
1.25  francs.  Once  inside  the  Belgian  fron- 
tier no  further  formality  is  necessary  in 
moving  from  place  to  place,  unless  one 
wishes  to  visit  either  the  firing  line  or  a  for- 
tress, in  either  of  which  events  a  further 
permission  is  necessary. 

On  our  way  to  Brussels  we  passed  through 
a  fertile  country  well  watered  and  well 
wooded,  the  loveliest  part  of  Belgium.  This 
year's  harvest  has  been  extremely  abundant, 
the  wheat,  rye  and  barley  crops  having  been 
unusually  large,  while  the  fruit  crop  has 
been  far  above  the  average.  Despite  the  size 
of  the  crops  there  seems  to  have  been  enough 
men  to  handle  them,  and  in  only  a  few  in- 
stances was  the  German  Government  obliged 
to  help  the  peasantry  with  soldier  labor.  The 
apple  harvest  was  so  large  that  the  Govern- 
ment has  made  great  efforts  to  encourage  the 


Belgium  57 

export  of  the  surplus  to  Germany,  Holland, 
and  even  to  Great  Britain. 

Everywhere  we  went  the  land  was  well 
cultivated,  every  inch  of  soil  seemed  to  be 
employed,  and  there  was  certainly  neither 
waste  land  nor  were  there  crops  rotting  in 
the  fields.  There  were  more  men  of  military 
age  working  on  the  farms  than  we  had  seen 
in  either  Germany,  Switzerland,  or  France. 

There  is  apparently  no  lack  of  cattle,  sheep 
and  poultry,  although  we  saw  no  signs  of  the 
16,000,000  pigs  the  Germans  are  alleged  to 
have  driven  into  Belgium  to  devastate  the 
land.  The  cows  grazing  in  the  pastures 
seemed  as  sleek  and  numerous  as  usual.  If 
the  Germans  have  helped  themselves  to  cat- 
tle, as  has  been  charged,  they  have  left  a 
great  number  untouched. 

We  found  Brussels  yery  much  as  we  had 
last  seen  it,  five  years  ago.  There  were  none 


ss       The  Heel  of  War 

but  military  motors  in  the  streets,  for  all 
private  cars  have  been  commandeered.  The 
trams,  however,  were  in  operation,  and  there 
were  enough  horse  cabs.  Several  of  the  big 
hotels  were  closed,  but  most  of  them  were 
open,  and  the  cafes  and  restaurants  were  in 
full  blast.  We  dined  and  lunched  at  several 
places  and  had  quite  as  excellent  food  as  one 
usually  has  in  good  Parisian  restaurants. 
The  shops  were  all  open,  the  streets,  espe- 
cially in  the  shopping  districts,  crowded  with 
the  usual  movement  and  bustle  of  a  busy  lit- 
tle capital. 

There  were  many  soldiers  in  evidence,  al- 
most all  middle-aged  men  belonging  to  the 
Landsturm,  all  the  privates  carrying  their 
rifles  when  on  leave  as  a  precaution  against 
attack,  although  few  soldiers  have  been  mur- 
dered since  the  early  days  of  the  occupation. 

Eighteen  old  and  new  newspapers  are  pub- 


Belgium  59 

listed  in  Brussels.  All  of  the  newspapers 
whose  proprietors  cared  to  continue  them 
still  appear,  and  in  addition  several  new  ones 
have  been  started.  They  are  allowed  to  print 
the  Allies'  war  bulletins  and  to  comment 
with  surprising  freedom  on  the  war  news. 
While  the  enemies'  newspapers  may  not  be 
sold  in  Belgium,  all  of  the  Dutch  newspapers 
are  permitted,  regardless  of  whether  they 
are  for  or  against  Germany. 

French  books,  even  those  attacking  the 
Germans,  may  be  bought  in  the  shops,  the 
line  apparently  being  drawn  at  the  anony- 
mously written ' i  J  'accuse. ' ' 

The  photographs  of  the  Belgian  King, 
Queen,  and  Princes,  and  Belgian,  French, 
and  English  flags  are  openly  displayed  and 
sold  in  the  shops  and  worn  by  many  people 
in  their  buttonholes. 

The  picture  gallery  is  open  as  usual,  under 


60 


The  Heel  of  War 


its  own  Belgian  Director  and  his  staff. 
When  I  was  there  it  was  crowded,  many  of 
the  visitors  being  German  soldiers,  a  number 
of  whom  were  studying  the  pictures  seri- 
ously, making  sketches  and  taking  notes.  It 
may  be  said  in  passing  that,  reports  to  the 
contrary  notwithstanding,  the  Germans  have 
taken  no  pictures  out  of  Belgium. 

Brussels,  like  all  the  other  cities  of  Bel- 
gium, is  policed  by  its  own  native  municipal 
force,  which  has  been  continued  intact,  with 
a  German  officer  at  its  head.  The  royal  gar- 
den is  closed  to  the  public  and  given  over  to 
convalescents,  and  the  Red  Cross  flag  flies 
from  the  King's  palace  and  a  number  of  pub- 
lic buildings  used  as  hospitals.  There  are 
great  signs  with  pointing  arrows  painted  at 
some  of  the  street  corners  to  guide  military 
motors  passing  through  the  city. 

Except  for  these  few  changes  and  the  field- 


Belgium  ei 

gray  uniforms  in  the  streets,  there  is  little, 
on  the  surface  at  least,  to  suggest  the  Ger- 
man occupation.  In  fact,  Brussels  is  less 
sad  than  Paris,  and  shows  to  the  eye  less 
evidence  of  the  war. 

The  Germans  claim  that  the  people  of 
Brussels  are  becoming  reconciled  to  the  pres- 
ence of  German  troops,  and  that  everywhere 
in  Belgium  the  refugees  are  returning.  It  is 
said  that  less  than  half  a  million  Belgians 
are  still  absent  in  Great  Britain,  France, 
and  Holland;  that  almost  all  the  peasants 
have  returned  to  the  fields,  and  that  the  har- 
vest was  gathered  almost  entirely  by  the  Bel- 
gians themselves,  with  very  little  help  from 
the  soldiers.  Those  who  still  remain  away 
are  mostly  the  rich  and  factory  hands  who 
are  unwilling  to  go  home  unless  assured  of 
work. 

Actually  less  than  1  per  cent,  of  Belgian 


62       The  Heel  of  War 

factory  property  has  been  destroyed  during 
the  war.  That  work  has  not  been  resumed 
in  the  factories  throughout  the  country  is,  I 
am  told,  due  to  the  unwillingness  of  the  pro- 
prietors to  go  home  and  resume  operations. 

A  flower  woman  in  the  market  put  the  mat- 
ter to  me  in  a  nutshell:  "We  poor  people 
will  continue  to  suffer,"  she  said,  "until  'le 
monde  chic'  comes  back.  We  are  suffering, 
of  course,  from  the  German  occupation,  but 
we  are  suffering  more  from  lack  of  work. 
The  smart  people  (*le  monde  chic')  are 
really  responsible." 

Or  as  the  barber  who  cut  my  hair  said  to 
me:  "We  proletarians  love  our  country 
enough  to  come  home  and  try  to  help  her. 
Why  can't  the  capitalists  be  as  patriotic  as 
we  are?" 

Any  one  who  has  seen  rich  Belgians 
spending  their  money  at  French  and  Swiss 


Belgium  63 

watering  places  will  doubtless  echo  the  bar- 
ber's inquiry.  An  antiquity  dealer  with 
whom  I  talked  explained  his  high  prices  by 
saying  that  in  his  trade  demand  remained 
normal  and  supply  had  not  increased.  "Our 
rich  are  buying,  not  selling,  valuables.  We 
are  a  very  wealthy  people,  and  now  that 
those  who  have  money  cannot  spend  it  on 
motor  cars  and  entertaining,  they  are  buy- 
ing pearls  and  jewelry,  books,  furniture,  and 
pictures. " 

These  are  only  incidents,  but  they  serve  to 
illustrate  the  popular  feeling.  The  Germans 
are  certainly  doing  their  best  to  conciliate 
the  Belgians,  and  to  administer  the  country 
as  efficiently  as  possible. 

In  the  large  hospital  which  has  been  estab- 
lished in  the  palace  of  the  Belgian  Academy 
there  are  not  only  German  soldiers  but  also 
Belgian  prisoners.  In  one  ward  there  are 


64       The  Heel  of  War 

both  German  and  Belgian  officers,  who  seem 
to  get  on  very  well  together.  The  private 
soldiers  of  the  two  countries  are  in  separate 
wards,  but,  as  far  as  I  could  see,  receive 
exactly  the  same  treatment.  I  saw  several 
wounded  prisoners  who  were  being  visited 
by  their  relations,  a  privilege  accorded  to 
prisoners  in  no  other  country.  All  the  pris- 
oners I  talked  with,  including  two  stray  Eng- 
lishmen, told  me  that  they  could  not  have 
been  treated  more  kindly  or  considerately. 

It  was  in  this  hospital  that  I  first  saw  the 
new  German  method  of  treating  wounds 
without  bandages.  It  is  really  the  outcome 
of  the  necessity  of  getting  on  with  as  few 
bandages  as  possible  because  of  the  shortage 
of  cotton.  The  wounded  arm  or  leg  is 
clamped  fast  to  a  frame  and  covered  with  a 
fly  screen.  The  wound  is  washed  from  time 
to  time  with  disinfectants  and  left  open,  with 


Belgium  65 

nothing  but  a  pad  of  wood  pulp  paper  as 
protection.  The  success  of  the  system  is  said 
to  be  extraordinary,  wounds  healing  in  from 
10  to  15  per  cent,  less  time  than  formerly. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  before  the  war 
social  conditions  in  Belgium  left  much  to  be 
desired.  The  percentage  of  unemployment 
was  large,  strikes  were  frequent,  and  the 
spirit  of  social  unrest  was  constantly  grow- 
ing. Brussels  was  the  headquarters  of  in- 
ternational anarchy. 

The  immediate  result  of  the  war  was  to 
increase  the  destitution  which  already  exist- 
ed and  the  immorality  and  vice  which  al- 
ways accompany  great  poverty. 

No  sooner  had  Belgium  been  conquered 
than  the  conquerors,  moved  by  the  German 
spirit  of  system  and  of  order,  began  the 
double  and  extremely  difficult  task  of  curb- 
ing vice  and  reducing  unemployment.  The 


66       The  Heel  of  War 

critics  of  Germany  may  urge  that  she  was 
influenced  in  her  work  of  Belgian  social  re- 
organization by  purely  selfish  motives  in  her 
own  interest  and  in  the  interest  of  her 
troops.  But  whether  this  is  the  case,  or 
whether  Germany  has  sincerely  desired  to 
improve  Belgian  conditions  for  the  sake  of 
the  Belgian  people,  the  fact  remains  that 
she  threw  herself  whole-heartedly  into  the 
work. 

General  von  Bissing,  who  succeeded  Field 
Marshal  von  der  Goltz  as  Governor  of  Bel- 
gium, was  unwilling  to  offend  Belgian  sus- 
ceptibilities by  acting  through  military 
channels.  Accordingly  the  machinery  of  the 
Belgian  Eed  Cross  was  and  is  being  used 
like  a  vast  charity  organization  society, 
backed  by  the  power  of  Germany. 

During  the  last  few  weeks  a  number  of 
Belgian  ladies,  at  last  convinced  of  the  Gov- 


Belgium  67 

ernor's  good  faith,  have  joined  the  move- 
ment and  are  doing  great  service  to  their 
people.  The  Belgian  Eed  Cross  Society  is 
charged  not  only  with  checking  prostitution 
and  reclaiming  and  caring  for  fallen  women, 
with  visiting  the  needy  and  sick  in  their 
homes,  and  looking  out  for  the  children  who 
are  too  young  to  go  to  school,  but  also  with 
the  problem  of  unemployment. 

The  idea  of  using  the  Eed  Cross  in  social 
reorganisation  originated  with  Dr.  £Toeg- 
gerath,  Professor  of  Children's  Diseases  in 
the  University  of  Freiburg,  who  has  been 
put  in  charge  of  the  Belgian  Eed  Cross  work 
in  Brussels. 

Thanks  to  the  energy  and  ability  of  Dr. 
Noeggerath  and  his  assistants,  to  use  a  po- 
lice expression,  Brussels  has  been  "cleaned 
up."  He  has  organized  and  has  running 
smoothly  and  effectively  a  "Magdalen 


68 


The  Heel  of  War 


Home,"  a  large  creche  for  the  babies  of 
mothers  who  are  employed  by  the  day,  two 
kindergartens,  a  school  for  social  workers 
and  an  enormous  headquarters  building.  He 
has  organized  a  stocking-knitting  industry 
which  gives  employment  to  5,000  women;  a 
mail  bag  and  knapsack  industry  which  gives 
employment  to  1,000  more,  and  he  confi- 
dently expects  to  put  some  15,000  other  wo- 
men at  work  before  Christmas. 

Besides  this  he  has  taken  the  Brussels 
lace-making  industry  under  his  wing,  and  is 
at  present  occupied  in  doing  away  with  the 
middlemen  by  bringing  together  the  hitherto 
sweated  lace-maker  and  the  lace  merchant, 
so  as  to  save  for  the  former  the  unearned 
profit  of  the  sweater. 

Dr.  Noeggerath's  ideas  are  to  be  followed 
in  Poland,  and  he  has  been  training  the  men 


Belgium  69 

who  are  to  organize  and  administer  a  Polish 
Ked  Cross  Society  for  the  purpose. 

The  American  Relief  Commission  is  still 
in  charge  of  the  distribution  of  supplies  sent 
from  this  country  for  the  help  of  needy  Bel- 
gians. There  can  be  no  question  but  that  the 
commission  has  done  and  is  doing  excellent 
work  in  relieving  distress. 

Yet  what  is  of  almost  as  great  importance 
to  the  happiness  of  the  Belgians  as  food  and 
clothing,  is  a  good  understanding  with  their 
conquerors.  A  year  ago  immediate  food  re- 
lief was  of  the  first  necessity,  but  to-day  con- 
ditions have  so  greatly  improved  that  it  is 
possible  for  the  authorities  to  look  into  the 
future. 

The  members  of  the  American  Commis- 
sion have  it  in  their  pqwer  to  place  the  Bel- 
gians under  still  another  great  obligation  by 
acting  as  the  intermediaries  between  con- 


70       The  Heel  of  War 

querors  and  conquered.  A  modus  vivendi 
between  the  Germans  and  the  Belgians  of 
the  capitalistic  class  is  of  the  most  vital  im- 
portance to  the  Belgian  people.  Germany 
wants  all  Belgians  to  return,  and,  as  far  as 
possible,  resume  their  workaday  lives  where 
they  laid  them  down  fourteen  months  ago. 
She  believes  that  if  the  employers  of  labor 
will  go  back  and  accept  the  help  of  the  Ger- 
man Government  in  opening  up  their  fac- 
tories, more  progress  can  be  made  toward 
the  resumption  of  normal  conditions  than  in 
any  other  way.  For  the  good  of  the  Belgian 
people  what  is  chiefly  needed  is  work,  and 
a  demand  for  labor  can  only  be  created  by  a 
return  to  usual  conditions. 

It  has  been  repeatedly  charged  that  Bel- 
gians are  not  allowed  to  return  to  their  own 
country,  and  that  as  there  is  no  demand  for 
manufactured  goods  there  can  be  no  possi- 


Belgium  71 

bility  of  opening  the  factories.  Whatever 
may  have  been  the  case  at  the  beginning  of 
the  war,  at  present  Belgians  are  not  only 
permitted  but  urged  to  go  home.  There  is 
demand  in  Germany  for  practically  every- 
thing that  Belgium  can  produce;  in  facty 
were  the  Belgian  factories  to  resume,  there 
can  be  no  question  that  they  would  soon  be 
running  on  full  time. 

The  members  of  our  commission  are  in  a 
better  position  to  help  Belgium  than  are  any 
other  body  of  men.  It  is  probably  beyond 
their  power  to  establish  a  German-Belgian 
friendship,  certainly  at  present,  but  if  they 
would  make  the  effort  they  would  doubtless 
succeed  in  inducing  the  Belgians  to  meet 
German  advances  half  way,  and  in  so  doing 
they  would  perform  still  another  service  for 
the  people  for  whom  they  have  already  done 
so  much. 


CHAPTER  IV 

LOUVAIN 

Accounts  of  serious  damage  to  city  greatly  exaggerated. 
No  evidence  of  shell  fire.  Four  Belgian  versions  of 
alleged  wilful  destruction  of  town.  Official  German 
version.  Concerted  attack  by  native  villagers  upon 
peaceful  German  soldiers.  Coming  of  reinforce- 
ments defeated  purpose  of  Belgians.  Houses  were 
fired  in  order  to  smoke  out  the  "snipers."  Cathe- 
dral and  art  treasures  saved  from  fire  by  German 
soldiers.  Stagnation  of  Antwerp.  Loss  of  shipping 
interests. 

FROM  Brussels  we  went  to  Louvain, 
half  an  hour  distant,  where  we  spent 
the  afternoon. 

According  to  the  second  report  of  the  Bel- 
gian Commission  of  Investigation,  after  the 
events  of  Aug.  25,  26,  and  27,  1914,  practi- 
cally all  of  the  City  of  Louvain  was  de- 
stroyed, only  the  Town  Hall  and  the  railway 
station  being  left  standing. 
As  a  matter  of  fact  the  German  official 

72 


Louvain  73 

statement  that  less  than  a  sixth  of  the  city 
was  destroyed  rather  overstates  than  under- 
states the  truth. 

The  houses  on  both  sides  of  the  railway, 
before  and  after  reaching  the  station,  are  in 
ruins,  as  well  as  those  for  two  blocks  on  each 
side  of  the  Rue  de  la  Station,  leading  from 
the  station  to  the  Grand  Place  and  imme- 
diately around  the  Cathedral.  As  we  all 
know,  the  library  has  been  destroyed  and 
the  roof  of  the  Cathedral  is  considerably 
damaged  by  fire;  otherwise  the  town  is  in- 
tact. 

One  of  the  favorite  postal  card  pictures  of 
Louvain,  which  has  been  widely  circulated, 
shows  the  Town  Hall  with  its  east  facade 
in  ruins.  This  was  evidently  obtained  by 
pointing  the  camera  at  the  Town  Hall  across 
the  debris  of  a  house  that  had  been  blown  up 
by  dynamite  to  prevent  the  fire  spreading  to 


74       The  Heel  of  War 

the  Cathedral.  The  result  of  combining  the 
debris  and  the  Town  Hall,  and  of  fore- 
shortening the  one  so  that  the  ruins  are  in 
the  foreground  of  the  other,  is  to  make  the 
debris  appear  to  be  a  part  of  an  apparently 
ruined  building. 

This  photograph  is  as  inaccurate  as  is  a 
sketch  "from  the  description  of  an  eye  wit- 
ness," printed  in  one  of  the  London  illus- 
trated papers,  showing  a  party  of  German 
officers  drinking  champagne  in  a  motor  car 
which  stands  in  the  Grand  Place,  while  the 
Town  Hall  burns  and  German  soldiers 
slaughter  innocent  women  and  children. 

Actually,  and  very  oddly,  the  only  injury 
done  to  the  Town  Hall  was  the  decapitation 
of  the  only  figure  of  a  soldier  on  its  f  agade. 

I  looked  at  the  ruins  of  Louvain  very 
carefully,  and  nowhere  saw  any  evidence  of 
shell  fire.  I  saw  no  destruction  that  might 


Louvain  75 

not  have  been  caused  either  by  fire  or  dyna- 
mite, as  claimed  in  the  official  German  state- 
ment. The  little  city  of  Louvain,  never  un- 
der the  most  favorable  circumstances  very- 
lively,  seems  to  have  resumed  its  normal  life. 
There  is  a  good  deal  of  rebuilding  going  on, 
and  I  was  informed  that  the  university  has 
been  reopened.  Feeling  everywhere  is  so 
high  upon  the  subject  of  the  war  that  it  is 
too  soon  for  the  world  to  agree  upon  what 
really  did  happen  at  Louvain.  It  may  not, 
however,  be  without  interest  briefly  to  sum- 
marize the  different  versions,  official  and 
otherwise,  of  the  events  of  August  25,  1914. 
There  are  four  Belgian  versions,  all  of 
which  have  numerous  supporters  and  all  of 
which  cannot  possibly  be  true.  According 
to  the  first  Belgian  version,  the  Germans, 
actuated  by  cruelty  and  blood  lust,  with- 
out any  excuse  or  reason,  simply  "shot 


76        The  Heel  of  War 

up"  the  town.  According  to  the  second 
Belgian  version,  thoroughly  frightened, 
but  without  cause,  and  thinking  them- 
selves in  peril  of  their  lives,  the  Ger- 
mans opened  fire  on  the  defenseless  popula- 
tion. According  to  the  third  Belgian  ver- 
sion, the  Germans,  with  hellish  ingenuity, 
posted  German  soldiers  in  some  of  the 
houses,  with  orders  to  fire  through  the  closed 
blinds  on  passing  German  troops,  so  as  to 
give  the  latter  an  excuse  for  destroying  the 
city.  According  to  the  fourth  Belgian  ver- 
sion, which  is  the  version  favored  by  the 
Belgian  Commission  of  Investigation,  Ger- 
man soldiers  fired  on  their  own  troops  un- 
der the  impression  that  the  latter  were  Bel- 
gians, and  when  the  mistake  had  been  dis- 
covered, the  German  high  command  ordered 
the  destruction  of  the  town  for  the  purpose 
of  covering  up  the  mistake  of  their  own  men 


Louvain  77 

and  of  slaking  their  blood  thirst  upon  the 
innocent  townspeople. 

The  Germans  have  submitted  their  of- 
ficial version  to  the  world,  with  a  great 
number  of  affidavits  from  officers,  non-com- 
missioned officers,  and  privates.  As  the  Bel- 
gian side  of  the  case  has  been  given  unlimit- 
ed space  and  the  German  side  scarcely  no- 
ticed, it  may  be  well  to  state  the  latter  at 
some  length. 

This  is  the  German  story:  * 

On  August  19,  1914,  the  German  Army 
entered  Louvain  and  was  received  by  the 
population  with  every  evidence  of  friendli- 
ness. Nothing  had  occurred  to  alter  the 
good  relations  which  appeared  to  exist  be- 

*  I  do  not  vouch  for  the  German  version,  as  so  many 
people  seem  to  think,  any  more  than  I  vouch  for  the 
four  mutually  contradictory  Belgian  versions.  As  I 
have  said  below,  I  submit  all  five  versions  "with- 
out comment  on  their  credibility  or  possibility. '  ' 


78       The  Heel  of  War 

tween  conqueror  and  conquered,  when  on 
the  morning  of  August  25  the  Belgian  and 
English  garrison  of  Antwerp  attempted  a 
sortie.  There  were  left  behind,  almost  as 
a  matter  of  form,  to  guard  the  apparently 
well-disposed  citizens  of  Louvain,  a  com- 
pany of  Landsturm  and  a  company  of 
train  troops,  whose  ammunition  and  sup- 
ply wagons  were  parked  in  the  Great 
Square  between  the  Town  Hall  and  the 
Cathedral. 

At  7  P.M.  the  Landsturm  company,  which 
had  been  outside  the  northwest  gate  of  the 
town,  in  the  direction  of  Antwerp,  was 
marched  across  the  city  to  the  square  in 
front  of  the  railway  station,  where  it  biv- 
ouacked for  the  night.  As  the  troops  passed 
through  the  streets  they  noticed  a  great  num- 
ber of  men  and  half -grown  boys  about,  who, 
by  the  time  they  reached  the  railway  sta- 


Louvain  79 

tion,  had  disappeared  completely.  As  the 
Cathedral  clock  struck  eight,  a  green  rocket 
exploded  over  the  town.  Complete  darkness 
followed  immediately,  caused  by  the  cutting 
of  the  electric  light  wires.  The  clock  had 
hardly  stopped  striking  when  from  almost 
every  house  on  the  Station  and  Great 
Squares  there  began  a  fusillade  from  rifles, 
shotguns  and  mitrailleuses,  most  of  the  fir- 
ing coming  from  the  upper  floors.  The  fir- 
ing killed  and  wounded  a  number  of  the 
soldiers,  and  stampeded  the  horses  hitched 
to  the  supply  and  ammunition  wagons. 

After  the  first  surprise,  the  troops  rallied 
and  returned  the  fire  of  the  snipers.  At 
half -past  10  o'clock  reinforcements  came, 
and  the  German  cause  was  saved  by  a  bri- 
gade of  infantry  under  the  command  of 
General  von  Boehn. 

Nevertheless,  the  firing  from  the  houses 


so       The  Heel  of  War 

continued  with  undiminished  vigor.  It 
became  necessary  to  smoke  the  snipers  out, 
house  by  house.  Each  house  from  which 
there  was  firing  was  set  on  fire,  and  as  the 
snipers  appeared  they  were  killed  unless 
they  surrendered.  If  they  surrendered  with 
arms  in  their  hands,  or  if  in  or  under  their 
civilian  clothes  there  was  found  the  metal 
tag  of  a  Belgian  soldier,  they  were  at  once 
shot.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  any  one  surren- 
dered without  arms,  or  without  a  Belgian 
metal  identification  tag,  he  was  put  aside  for 
trial  later. 

No  such  prisoner  was  shot  unless  two  Ger- 
man soldiers  testified  they  had  seen  him  with 
weapons  in  his  hands.  No  woman  was  either 
shot  or  injured.  It  is  absolutely  denied  that 
Bishop  Coenraets  was  either  shot  or  mo- 
lested, and  it  is  insisted  that  he  is  living  and 


Louvain  si 

well  at  the  home  of  Professor  Dr.  Toels  at 
Firlen  in  Holland. 

As  soon  as  the  fires  which  had  been  start- 
ed to  smoke  out  the  snipers  had  done  their 
work,  the  Germans  turned  their  attention 
to  preventing  their  spread  to  other  quarters 
of  the  city.  In  doing  this  it  became  neces- 
sary to  blow  up  a  number  of  houses,  espe- 
cially around  the  Town  Hall  and  Cathedral. 
Despite  this  the  roof  of  the  Cathedral  caught 
fire,  and  before  it  could  be  put  out  it  had 
done  great  but  not  irreparable  damage.  The 
pictures  of  the  Cathedral  were  saved  at  the 
risk  of  their  lives  by  German  soldiers,  and 
placed  in  the  Town  Hall,  where  they  may 
now  be  seen. 

It  is  said  that  at  the  university  the  libra- 
rian and  his  assistants  all  deserted  their 
posts,  locking  the  library  behind  them  and 
carrying  off  the  keys.  It  was  not  possible  to 


82       The  Heel  of  War 

save  either  building  or  books,  for  when  the 
doors  were  at  last  battered  down  the  inte- 
rior had  been  gutted.  The  sniping  contin- 
ued all  through  the  night  of  the  25th,  and 
through  the  26th  and  27th,  and  did  not  final- 
ly cease  until  the  28th.  There  were  killed 
altogether  about  100  Germans  and  about  the 
same  number  of  Belgians,  including  those 
executed  after  the  fighting  was  over. 

The  German  explanation  of  the  uprising 
in  Louvain  is  very  similar  to  their  explana- 
tion of  the  uprisings  in  other  Belgian  cities, 
and  is  at  the  same  time  their  explanation 
of  the  so-called  atrocities.  The  Belgian 
press  and  Government  had  from  .the  begin- 
ning of  the  war  advocated  and  encouraged 
francs-tireurs,  snipers  and  guerrillas,  who 
were  urged  to  kill,  wound,  and  maim  as 
many  Germans  as  possible.  In  support  of 
this  statement  the  Germans  submit  a  vast 


Louvain  ss 

number  of  quotations  from  the  Belgian 
newspapers  and  Government  orders  in  ref- 
erence to  the  unorganized  and  ununif  ormed 
" civic  guards,"  their  arms,  and  equipment. 
It  is  believed  that  the  Belgian  authorities 
expected  the  sortie  from  Antwerp  on  August 
25  to  be  successful,  and  through  agents  in 
Louvain  organized  a  revolt  among  the  citi- 
zens for  the  same  night.  It  is  claimed  that 
the  hand  of  the  Government  is  seen  in  the 
great  number  of  Belgian  soldiers  captured 
in  Louvain  wearing  citizens'  clothes,  the 
service  rifles  in  use,  and  the  presence  of 
mitrailleuses. 

When  the  townspeople  saw  the  Landsturm 
company  marching  through  the  city  from 
the  direction  of  Antwerp,  they  thought  the 
sortie  had  been  successful  and  the  troops 
were  the  head  of  the  German  retreat.  They 
struck  at  an  appointed  signal  under  the  im- 


84       The  Heel  of  War 

pression  that  they  would  be  able  to  destroy 
a  demoralized  and  retreating  enemy.  Had 
they  been  correct  in  their  surmise  as  to  the 
success  of  the  sortie  they  might  have  cut  off 
the  German  retreat.  As  it  was,  they  made  a 
fatal  error  and  paid  the  price  of  their  mis- 
take. 

On  the  morning  of  August  26  the  general 
in  command  announced  that  if  the  sniping 
did  not  cease  in  forty-eight  hours  he  would 
shell  the  town.  When  August  28  arrived, 
while  the  firing  was  not  literally  at  an  end, 
it  had  practically  stopped.  Because  of  this 
fact  the  bombardment  of  the  city,  which 
then  took  place,  was  purely  technical.  Four 
shells  were  fired  into  houses  already  in  ruins, 
causing  no  loss  of  life  and  no  further  dam- 
age. These  were  the  only  shells  fired  by  the 
Germans  during  the  entire  period  of  the 
fighting. 


Louvain  85 

When  the  fighting  came  to  an  end  the  in- 
cident was  declared  closed,  and  the  people 
of  Louvain  once  more  took  up  the  routine 
of  their  daily  lives. 

These  are  the  five  prevalent  versions  of 
the  happenings  of  August  25.  I  submit 
them  without  comment  on  their  credibility 
or  possibility. 

We  went  to  Antwerp  by  the  morning 
train  on  a  Sunday,  passing  crowds  of 
holiday  makers  at  the  way  stations  and  in 
the  villages  en  route,  for  the  Belgian  peas- 
ant has  resumed  his  old  life  even  to  the  en- 
joyment of  his  Sundays.  On  our  way  we 
ran  close  enough  to  Mechlin  (Malines)  to 
see  the  tower  of  the  Cathedral  as  it  stands 
silhouetted  against  the  sky.  It  seems  to  have 
suffered  severely  from  shell  fire,  for  it  is 
nicked  and  dented  from  top  to  bottom.  Yet 
the  darkness  of  the  fighting  about  Mechlin 


86 


The  Heel  of  War 


is  brightened  by  at  least  one  brilliant  ex- 
ploit. 

The  Cathedral  had  caught  fire,  and  hope 
of  saving  it  and  its  contents  had  been  given 
up  when  Captain  Graf  Harrach,  who  in 
peaceful  times  is  the  well-known  German 
sculptor,  with  a  handful  of  his  men,  broke 
down  the  door  and  at  the  peril  of  his  life 
cut  down  and  carried  to  a  place  of  safety 
Van  Dyck's  masterpiece,  "The  Crucifixion." 
It  is  a  satisfaction  to  know  that  the  cap- 
tain's heroism  was  rewarded  with  the  iron 
cross. 

As  Antwerp  is  a  fortress  and  on  the  fron- 
tier, almost  as  much  formality  is  required 
on  entering  as  is  exacted  on  crossing  the  bor- 
der. A  special  pass  is  necessary,  and  all 
luggage  is  examined  and  all  women  are 
searched  unless  the  central  authorities  de- 
cree otherwise.  Antwerp  shows  more  signs 


Louvain  87 

of  the  war  than  any  other  city  we  had  visited 
since  leaving  France.  It  must  be  remem- 
bered that  in  ordinary  times  Antwerp  de- 
rives the  greater  part  of  her  prosperity 
from  her  commerce,  and  that  before  the  war, 
next  to  that  of  Hamburg,  her  commerce  was 
the  greatest  of  any  seaport  on  the  Continent. 

Now  that  the  war  and  the  British  have 
cut  her  off  from  the  sea,  her  commerce  has, 
of  course,  ceased  to  exist.  There  are  a  few 
ships  rotting  in  her  harbor,  her  docks  are 
deserted,  and  in  her  waterfront  streets,  once 
her  pride,  the  grass  grows  six  inches  high. 
As  in  Brussels,  the  homes  of  the  rich  and 
prosperous  are  closed,  for  the  well-to-do 
have  preferred  to  remain  away  and  spend 
their  money  abroad,  rather  than  make  the 
sacrifice  to  their  pride  and  comfort  of  com- 
ing home  to  help  their  own  people. 

Of  the  three  hotels  on  the  Place  Verte,  the 


88       The  Heel  of  War 

Europe  was  destroyed  during  the  siege,  the 
Saint  Antoine  is  used  by  the  General  Staff, 
and  only  the  Hotel  de  Mandre  is  available 
for  strangers.  This,  however,  more  than 
meets  the  demand,  for  there  is  nothing  to 
bring  strangers  to  Antwerp. 

At.  the  Musee  Plantin,  except  for  members 
of  the  Belgian  Belief  Commission,  we  were 
the  first  outsiders  who  had  been  there  for 
over  a  year.  But  for  one  solitary  man,  we 
were  the  only  guests  in  the  hotel,  which  had 
closed  its  kitchen  because  there  had  been 
no  one  for  whom  to  cook. 

The  town  itself  seems  lively  enough,  hard- 
ly as  much  so  as  Brussels,  and  certainly  not 
as  much  so  as  it  used  to  be  in  happier  days. 
But  the  shops  are  open,  the  coffee  houses 
and  restaurants  crowded,  and  the  streets 
and  squares,  especially  on  Sunday,  full  of 
citizens  and  German  Landsturm  soldiers  in 


Louvain  89 

their  field  gray  uniform,  with  their  rifles 
in  their  hands. 

Considering  the  violence  of  the  bombard- 
ment, which  lasted  almost  continuously  for 
forty-eight  hours,  and  in  that  time  reduced 
to  submission  what  had  been  supposed  to  be 
an  impregnable  fortress,  the  damage  done 
has  been  surprisingly  slight.  While  the 
man  in  the  street  will  tell  you  that  over 
2,000  houses  were  destroyed,  the  official  Bel- 
gian estimate  is  that  only  1,000  were  in- 
jured. In  this  list  has  been  included  every 
house  that  was  touched  by  a  shrapnel  bul- 
let or  sustained  the  slightest  damage,  in- 
cluding broken  windows,  so  that  the  number 
of  demolished  houses  probably  falls  short 
of  500. 

These  are  scattered  very  widely  over  the 
central  and  southern  parts  of  the  city.  No 
building  of  any  importance  has  been  in- 


90       The  Heel  of  War 

jured,  and  the  Cathedral  stands  intact,  al- 
though a  picture  postcard  has  been  issued 
showing  a  part  of  the  east  end  in  ruins. 
This  has  been  faked,  as  has  the  similar  one 
in  the  case  of  the  Town  Hall  at  Louvain, 
by  pointing  the  camera  at  the  Cathedral 
across  a  heap  of  rubbish. 

The  picture  gallery  was  unhurt  and  is  now 
open,  although  only  the  modern  pictures  are 
on  exhibition,  the  old  masters  having  been 
stored  in  the  basement  by  the  Belgians  be- 
fore the  bombardment  began. 

As  in  Brussels,  the  Belgian  director  and 
his  staff  are  in  charge.  The  day  we  visited 
the  gallery  it  was  crowded,  chiefly  with  Ger- 
man soldiers,  who,  unlike  the  soldiers  one 
sees  in  most  European  galleries,  seemed  to 
be  really  and  intelligently  enjoying  them- 
selves. St  Elizabeth's  Hospital,  which  I 
had  read  had  been  destroyed  by  German 


Louvain  91 

shell  fire,  had  evidently  been  injured  at  one 
corner,  if  fresh  paint  and  plaster  were  any 
evidence  of  recent  restoration. 

As  at  Louvain,  almost  everywhere  that  a 
house  has  been  injured  but  not  made  unin- 
habitable, especially  in  the  fashionable  quar- 
ters of  the  town,  the  injury  has  been  left 
unrepaired,  sometimes  apparently  to  the 
great  inconvenience  of  the  occupants.  In 
fact,  in  most  cases  the  injury  has  been  made 
permanent,  even  at  considerable  trouble. 

Broken  blinds  have  been  nailed  fast,  so 
that  the  break  will  show  without  absolute- 
ly destroying  the  shutter,  bullet  holes  have 
been  carefully  framed,  and  shattered  panes 
of  glass  have  been  backed  with  sheets  of 
plate  glass,  boards,  or  oiled  paper,  so  as  more 
or  less  to  keep  out  the  air,  and  at  the  same 
time  display  to  all  and  sundry  the  ruin 
wrought  by  German  guns. 


92 


The  Heel  of  War 


Doubtless  when  the  war  is  over  the  towns 
that  have  suffered  will  be  able  to  reap  a  har- 
vest from  American  tourists  by  showing  the 
actual  ruin  as  it  was  originally  wrought. 

The  people  of  Antwerp  do  not  seem  as 
content  or  as  cheerful  as  those  of  Brussels. 
While  those  I  talked  with  were  bitter 
against  the  rich  Belgian  refugees  for  not 
coming  home,  they  were  equally  bitter 
against  the  Germans.  They  have  lost  their 
commerce  through  the  war  and  have  nothing 
else  to  take  its  place.  Antwerp,  from  being 
one  of  the  most  active  cities  in  Europe,  has 
sunk  to  the  status  of  a  struggling  provincial 
town.  The  Germans  have  done  what  they 
could  to  help  unemployment,  but  thus  far  it 
has  necessarily  not  been  as  much  as  at  Brus- 
sels, although  they  hope  later  to  accomplish 
much  more. 

The  people  of  Antwerp,  like  other  Bel- 


Louvain  93 

gians,  are  allowed  to  wear  the  Belgian  flag 
and  the  picture  of  their  King  in  their  but- 
tonholes, and  read  and  circulate  the  Dutch 
papers  and  any  French  books  they  please. 
There  is  little  indication  that  they  have  been 
placated,  and  everywhere  we  went  out  of 
sight  of  the  Belgian  municipal  police  we 
were  greeted  with  hoots  of  "  Sales  Alle- 
mands,"  (" dirty  Germans"),  for,  as  we 
were  the  first  tourists  who  seem  to  have  been 
in  Antwerp  in  a  year,  we  were  naturally 
taken  for  Germans. 

In  leaving  Antwerp  the  same  formalities 
must  be  complied  with  as  on  entering.  Un- 
less one  has  a  special  pass,  baggage  is  once 
more  examined,  papers  carefully  rescruti- 
nized,  and  women  searched.  There  is  only 
one  train  a  day  leaving  Antwerp  for  Hol- 
land, and  that  travels  very  slowly.  So  many 
spies  cross  and  try  to  cross  the  frontier  be- 


94        The  Heel  of  War 

tween  Holland  and  Belgium  that  every  pos- 
sible precaution  is  taken  to  break  up  the 
spy  traffic. 

There  were  a  fair  number  of  passengers 
on  our  train,  but,  thanks  to  the  courtesy  of 
the  authorities,  we  were  through  with  the 
formalities  in  less  than  five  minutes.  One 
changes  trains  at  Eschen,  with  a  delay  of 
two  hours,  during  which  I  watched  our  fel- 
low-passengers, all  men,  Hollanders,  Bel- 
gians, and  Germans,  being  examined.  The 
examination  was  thorough,  but  very  cour- 
teous, and  no  more  severe  than  is  that  to 
which  outgoing  foreigners  are  subjected  on 
leaving  France. 

When  the  Dutch  train  was  ready,  we 
found  our  carriage  had  been  kept  for  us  by 
an  exceedingly  polite  Prussian  sergeant. 
To  him  we  offered  some  boxes  of  cigarettes 
which  had  been  left  over  from  our  last  hoe- 


Louvain  95 

pital  visit.    With  many  excuses  he  "begged 
leave  to  decline  because  he  was  on  duty." 

The  whistle  blew  and  the  train  drew  out 
from  the  station,  bound  for  the  Dutch  fron- 
tier, a  quarter  of  a  mile  away.  The  last  we 
saw  of  the  conquerors'  army  of  occupation 
was  our  polite  sergeant,  standing  at  atten- 
tion, with  his  hand  at  the  salute. 


FRANCE  SACRIFICES  TO  WIN 

No  real  hatred  for  Germany  except  among  American 
colony  and  a  small  section  of  unrepresentative 
French.  French  people  make  many  sacrifices  for 
"La  Patrie."  Irritability  in  Government  circles. 
French  people  kept  in  ignorance  of  real  conditions. 
Establishment  of  oppressive  dictatorship  without 
consent  of  people  or  parliament.  Viviani  Ministry 
employs  unconstitutional  methods.  Censorship  ac~ 
tive.  No  uncensored  "war  news"  permitted  from 
the  front.  No  German  newspapers  allowed.  AH 
mail  matter  held  up  five  days  before  leaving  France. 


TO  any  one  who  knows  France  and 
has  been  there  recently,  by  far  the 
most  impressive  feature  of  the  war 
is  the  spirit  of  the  French  people.    Where- 
ever  one  goes,  with  whomsoever  one  talks,  it 
is  the  same.   There  is  a  profound  realization 
of  the  tragedy  of  the  war,  as  of  something 
as  inevitable  as  fate,  overpowering,  almost 
overwhelming  all  peoples  and  nations  alike. 

96 


France  97 

At  first  Frenchmen  went  to  the  war  in  the 
spirit  of  enthusiasm  and  conquest,  for  the 
recovery  of  the  "lost  provinces"  for  which 
they  had  been  preparing  for  over  forty 
years.  But  they  soon  found  that  there  was 
not  as  much  desire  on  the  part  of  the  Alsa- 
tians to  be  "recovered"  as  they  had  expected. 
Men  have  returned  from  Alsace  with  stories 
of  wells  poisoned  by  Alsatian  farmers  and 
of  French  sentries  shot  in  the  back  by  Alsa- 
tian peasants,  and,  moreover,  Alsatian  and 
Lotharingian  troops  have  been  fighting  man- 
fully and  loyally  in  Poland  against  Russia. 
All  this  served  to  damp  the  first  enthusiasm, 
and  as  the  months  have  gone  by  the  phase 
of  enthusiasm  and  conquest  has  entirely 
passed,  for  Frenchmen  realize  now  that  they 
are  fighting  for  life. 

There  is  a  grim  determination  through- 
out the  country  to  win  if  victory  is  possible, 


98       The  Heel  of  War 

and  if  not  to  lose  gloriously.  There  is 
among  the  people  a  calm,  cheerful  willing- 
ness to  make  any  and  every  sacrifice  of  life, 
property,  and  even  liberty  for  "La  Patrie." 
One  of  the  great  surprises,  and  to  their  ene- 
mies one  of  the  great  disappointments,  of 
the  war  has  been  the  way  in  which  the 
French  people  have  refused  to  be  stam- 
peded. 

It  is  true  that  in  the  beginning  they  be- 
came excited  and  that  there  was  rioting  in 
Paris,  but  there  has  never  been  any  .ques- 
tion of  popular  disapproval  or  even  of  dis- 
content with  any  of  the  burdens  and  hard- 
ships imposed  by  the  war.  There  has  never 
been  any  question  of  the  ability  and  willing- 
ness of  the  civilians  "to  hold."  If  France 
is  beaten  it  will  be  by  force  of  arms  from 
without,  and  not  by  revolution.  Those  Ger- 
mans who  counted  on  internal  disorders  in 


France  99 

Prance  as  one  of  their  allies  already  real- 
ize their  mistake  and  acknowledge  that  the 
France  of  1914  is  a  yery  different  France 
from  that  of  1871. 

What  greatly  impresses  any  neutral  who 
has  lately  seen  much  of  English  people  is 
the  difference  in  spirit  between  the  English 
and  the  French.  While  the  British  upper 
and  middle  classes  are  thoroughly  aroused* 
to  the  magnitude  of  the  task  before  them, 
the  people  hardly  realize  its  importance.  In 
France,  on  the  contrary,  from  the  President 
to  the  smallest  gamin,  all  appreciate  the 
vastness  of  the  undertaking  upon  which  they 
have  entered. 

While  the  British  people  are  more  or  less 
apathetic,  the  hatred  of  the  upper  and  mid- 
dle class  English  for  the  Germans  is  far 
greater  than  that  of  the  Germans  for  them, 
while  the  French  have  no  more  hatred  for 


ioo      The  Heel  of  War 

their  enemies  than  have  the  latter  for  the 
French. 

The  English  call  their  enemies  "Huns," 
"Pirates,"  and  "Murderers,"  the  French- 
call  them  by  no  worse  names  than  "Les 
Boches,"  a  contraction  of  "Alboche,"  the 
corruption  of  "Allemand,"  by  which  the 
Germans  have  been  known  for  years  in  the 
extreme  north  of  France. 

Neither  the  French  soldiers  nor  those  civil- 
ians who  are  in  touch  with  the  front  through 
the  presence  there  of  sons,  husbands,  or 
brothers  have  anything  but  respect  for  their 
enemies.  They  realize  that  the  Germans  are 
fighting  for  what  they  believe  to  be  the  right, 
that  it  is  no  disgrace  to  be  beaten  by  them, 
and  that  every  skirmish  won  is  a  feat  of 
arms  of  which  to  be  greatly  proud. 

The  only  real  hatred  of  the  Germans  that 
seems  to  exist  in  France  is  among  the  mem- 


France  101 

bers  of  the  American  colony  in  Paris,  who, 
like  all  foreigners  living  abroad,  are  for 
business  and  social  reasons  always  more 
loyal  than  the  King;  among  a  small  section 
of  the  French  people  who  have  no  relatives 
at  the  front,  and  who  are  inclined  to  believe 
everything  they  read  in  the  French  news- 
papers ;  and  among  certain  members  of  the 
bourgeois  ruling  oligarchy. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  the  Govern- 
ment and  its  immediate  supporters  have  been 
under  a  terrific  strain  for  over  a  year.  It  is 
therefore  not  surprising  if  the  strain  is  be- 
ginning to  tell  on  individuals  so  that  many 
of  them  have  become  nervous,  irritable  and 
unjust.  Not  only  are  they  unjust  to  their 
enemies,  which  is  to  be  expected,  but  they 
seem  unable  even  to  be  fair  to  neutrals. 

The  Pope's  suggestion  that  there  might  be 
something  to  be  said  on  the  side  of  the  Ger- 


102      The  Heel  of  War 

mans  called  forth  a  storm  of  abuse,  with 
the  absurd  hint  that  he  had  been  "  bought 
by  German  gold,"  while  President  Wilson's 
neutrality,  certainly  not  unf avorable  to  the 
Allies,  was  violently  denounced  in  official 
quarters.  He  was  charged  with  being  pro- 
German  because  he  had  not  declared  war 
against  Germany,  and  M.  Clemenceau  and 
M.  Hanotaux,  although  not  in  office,  support- 
ers of  the  Government,  taking  advantage  of 
an  indiscreet  attack  made  upon  the  Presi- 
dent by  an  American  stopping  in  Paris,  went 
out  of  their  way  to  abuse  Mr.  Wilson  in  the 
newspapers  with  which  they  are  connected, 
L'Homme  Enchaine  and  Le  Figaro. 

As  the  war  goes  on  this  irritability  in 
Government  circles  becomes  more  evident, 
and  with  it  an  ever-increasing  objection  to 
trusting  the  people.  This  is  the  more  re- 
markable in  view  of  the  fact  that  since  war 


France  103 

was  declared  the  French  people  have  never 
proved  themselves  unworthy  of  any  trust 
that  has  been  given  them. 

Before  the  battle  of  the  Marne,  the  people 
were  kept  in  ignorance  of  the  real  condition 
of  affairs.  It  was  not  until  they  heard  the 
sound  of  the  German  guns  outside  Paris  that 
they  knew  that  anything  was  wrong  with  the 
French  Army.  It  is  doubtful  if  any  other 
people  on  earth  would  have  stood  the  shock 
of  the  discovery  as  well  as  did  the  French. 
They  took  it  perfectly  quietly  and  bravely. 
Some  who  could  do  so  left  Paris,  but  most 
with  admirable  courage  and  patriotism  re- 
mained. 

Again,  when  the  much-advertised  spring 
forward  movement,  which  was  to  drive  the 
Germans  out  of  France  and  Belgium,  ended 
in  the  disastrous  defeat  of  Arras,  in  which 
100,000  Frenchmen  were  killed,  wounded, 


104      The  Heel  of  War 

and  captured,  the  Government  suppressed 
the  news.  After  a  week's  time  the  news  be- 
came public  through  the  English  papers  and 
by  word  of  mouth,  and  once  more  the  French 
people  stood  the  strain  calmly  and  bravely. 

Yet  even  this  second  proof  of  French 
trustworthiness  in  adversity  has  produced 
no  effect  upon  the  Government.  Strangely 
enough  in  a  democracy,  the  members  of  the 
Ministry  seem  to  distrust  and  fear  the  peo- 
ple, and  they  have  distrusted  and  feared 
them  from  the  very  beginning. 

The  war  had  hardly  begun  when  the  Gov- 
ernment, without  either  popular  or  Parlia- 
mentary consent,  brushed  aside  the  Consti- 
tution and  the  laws  and  established  what  is 
in  effect,  if  not  in  name,  a  dictatorship  as 
oppressive  and  as  complete  as  any  ever  ex- 
ercised by  either  of  the  Napoleons. 

Germany  declared  war  against  France 


France  105 

on  August  3, 1914.  The  French  Parliament 
met  the  next  day  and,  as  required  by  the 
Constitution,  recognized  the  existence  of  a 
state  of  war.  In  a  single  session,  without 
amendment  or  debate,  it  enacted  into  law 
eighteen  bills  submitted  by  the  Government, 
and  authorized  the  President  of  the  Bepub- 
lic  to  borrow  eight  milliards  of  francs,  to  be 
spent  upon  the  public  services  in  any  way 
the  Government  might  see  fit.  It  was  per- 
fectly willing  to  subordinate  itself  to  the 
executive,  and  in  the  face  of  national  dan- 
ger legislate  without  comment  on  any  sub- 
ject or  in  any  way  the  Government  might 
desire. 

This,  however,  did  not  satisfy  the  wishes 
of  M.  Yiviani  and  his  associates,  who  almost 
immediately  after  their  flight  to  Bordeaux 
declared  the  session  of  Parliament  closed  by 
a  notice  printed  in  the  Journal  Officiel.  It 


106      The  Heel  of  War 

» 

is  not  only  insisted  that  the  Government  had 
no  legal  right  to  close  a  session  of  Parlia- 
ment held  during ' '  a  state  of  siege, ' '  but  it  is 
further  claimed  that  the  only  legal  way  that 
any  session  can  be  closed  is  by  the  reading  of 
the  decree  of  closure  from  the  tribune  of 
both  chambers. 

As  the  budget  for  1915  had  not  been  voted, 
the  Government  was  obliged  to  call  Parlia- 
ment together  again  before  the  expiration 
of  the  year.  This  was  not  done  until  Decem- 
ber 24,  when,  after  three  meetings  in  which 
the  chambers  showed  themselves  as  subser- 
vient and  as  pliant  as  before,  the  session  was 
again  closed  in  the  same  illegal  way. 

On  January  12, 1915,  Parliament  met  un- 
der the  Constitution  for  its  regular  session, 
which  must  last  at  least  five  months.  Until 
lately  it  has  at  no  time  shown  itself  inclined 
to  in  any  way  embarrass  the  Government  or 


France  107 

to  disobey  the  latter 's  orders,  no  matter  how 
•unconstitutional  they  might  be.  In  fact, 
in  two  particulars,  it  has  gone  so  far  as  even 
to  surprise  many  Frenchmen  who  thorough- 
ly approve  of  the  present  dictatorship. 

The  members  of  the  French  Senate  are 
elected  for  nine  years.  In  January  of  this 
year  the  terms  of  102  Senators  expired. 

"It  is  difficult/'  said  the  Government,  "to 
call  together  the  electoral  colleges,  and  in 
fact  some  of  the  departments  affected  are 
in  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  It  will  be  even 
more  inconvenient  to  have  102  seats  vacant. 
Let  us  therefore  ignore  the  Constitution  and 
by  a  simple  act  of  Parliament  indefinitely 
extend  the  terms  of  those  Senators  who  are 
about  to  go  out" — which  Parliament  on  De- 
cember 24,  1914,  unanimously,  and  without 
a  single  word  of  debate,  proceeded  to  do. 

In  other  words,  one-third  of  the  members 


108      The  Heel  of  War 

of  the  French  Senate  have  absolutely  no 
constitutional  right  to  their  seats.  The  ex- 
tension of  the  life  of  the  British  House  of 
Commons  by  act  of  Parliament  is  an  en- 
tirely different  matter,  for  the  British  Con- 
stitution, being  unwritten,  can  be  amended 
by  act,  so  that  anything  not  antagonistic  to 
Magna  Charta,  the  Bill  of  Bights,  and  the 
Act  of  Settlement  is  of  itself  constitutional. 

The  French  Constitution  is  written  and 
rigid,  yet  the  French  Parliament,  to  save  the 
Government  from  an  inconvenience,  for  it 
was  nothing  more,  did  not  hesitate  to  com- 
mit a  constitutional  violation,  which  in  any 
but  a  Latin  country  would  make  null  and 
void  any  future  legislation  it  might  enact, 
and  even  in  France  has  raised  the  question 
of  the  validity  of  all  legislation  enacted  dur- 
ing the  present  session. 

In  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  an  equally 


France  109 

extraordinary  condition  of  affairs  has  been 
tolerated.  Out  of  a  membership  of  603, 
more  than  one-third  the  total,  or  220  Depu- 
ties, have  been  mobilized.  Asked  by  the 
Committee  on  Leaves  of  Absence  of  the 
Chamber  for  a  list  of  the  members  affected, 
the  Minister  of  War  refused  to  furnish  the 
desired  information,  and  the  Chamber  ac- 
cepted his  refusal. 

Curiously  enough,  two  Under  Secretaries 
of  State,  including  the  Under  Secretary  for 
Foreign  Affairs,  have  been  mobilized  and 
are  at  the  front,  although  continuing  to  hold 
office,  and  like  the  other  Deputies  with  the 
colors,  are  never  free  from  military  disci- 
pline and  can  attend  the  meetings  of  the 
Chamber  only  by  the  permission  of  their 
military  chiefs.  If  they  were  to  attend  with- 
out permission  they  would  be  liable  to  be  shot 
for  desertion  "in  the  face  of  the  enemy." 


no      The  Heel  of  War 

A  Deputy  named  Mirman,  in  his  capacity 
of  Deputy,  signed  a  circular  in  praise  of  the 
Minister  of  War,  and  was  promptly  pun- 
ished as  a  private  soldier  for  having  taken 
part  in  politics.  By  a  recently  enacted  law, 
Deputies,  formerly  forbidden  to  do  so,  may 
now  accept  decorations.  It  is  very  easy  to 
see  that  through  the  fear  of  punishment,  the 
hope  of  reward  and  the  force  of  discipline, 
the  Minister  of  War  can  and  does  absolutely 
control  over  a  third  of  the  Chamber  of 
Deputies. 

Acting  under  Government  orders,  Parlia- 
ment has  made  a  third  of  the  membership  of 
one  house  unconstitutional  and  imperiled  the 
validity  of  all  legislation,  and  in  the  other 
has  permitted  more  than  a  third  of  its  mem- 
bership to  become  the  private  property  of 
the  War  Department.  Surely  it  would  seem 
that  a  Parliament  willing  to  go  as  far  as 


France  in 

this  in  obeying  orders  might  have  been 
trusted  to  any  extent. 

Yet  such  apparently  has  not  been  the  case, 
for  the  Viviani  Ministry  has  preferred  to 
employ  even  more  unconstitutional  methods 
of  government  to  trusting  the  Chambers.  It 
has  reverted  to  the  methods  of  the  Second 
Empire,  and  ever  since  the  war  began,  in 
direct  violation  of  both  statute  law  and  Con- 
stitution, France  has  been  governed  by  Min- 
isterial decree. 

According  to  Professor  J.  Barthelemy  of 
the  Faculty  of  Law  in  the  University  of 
Paris  ("Du  Eenforcement  du  Pouvoir  Ex- 
ecutif  en  Temps  de  Guerre")  these  execu- 
tive decrees  have  been  of  three  kinds : 

1.  Those   formally   suspending    existing 
statutes ; 

2.  Those  directly  violating  existing  laws ; 
and 


112      The  Heel  of  War 

3.  Those  substituting  rules  decreed  by  the 
executive  power  for  laws  already  enacted  by 
Parliament. 

It  is  needless  to  say  that  none  of  these 
decrees  has  either  legal  authority  or  moral 
justification.  In  a  very  few  instances  Par- 
liament has  subsequently  legalized  decrees ; 
otherwise  they  have  continued  to  be,  as  in 
the  beginning,  absolutely  illegal. 

The  most  illegal  example  of  existing  law 
suspended  by  Ministerial  decree  cited  by 
Professor  Barthelemy  is  that  of  the  law 
against ' l  congregations  of  women. ' '  Under 
the  so-called  " Combes"  laws  religious  asso- 
ciations of  women,  as  well  as  those  of  men, 
were  declared  illegal,  and  the  nuns  who  had 
done  so  much,  so  faithfully  and  so  nobly, 
for  France,  in  education  and  in  caring  for 
the  sick  and  poor,  were  expelled  from  the 
country  and  their  property  seized. 


France  113 

When  the  war  broke  out  the  Government 
awoke  to  the  fact  that  the  only  trained 
nurses  (the  nuns)  that  France  had  ever 
known  were  forbidden  to  enter  the  country. 
Accordingly,  instead  of  asking  Parliament 
to  amend  or  suspend  the  law  against  congre- 
gations, which  would  have  been  the  legal 
procedure  and  which  request  Parliament 
would  undoubtedly  have  promptly  granted, 
the  law  was  suspended  for  the  duration  of 
the  war  by  Ministerial  decree.  The  Govern- 
ment had  no  more  legal  right  to  suspend  the 
law  than  had  the  first  passerby  in  the  street. 

Under  the  second  and  third  heads,  viola- 
tion of  existing  laws  by  decree,  and  substitu- 
tion of  decrees  for  laws,  for  both  mean  prac- 
tically the  same  thing,  the  examples  are  so 
numerous  that  only  a  few  of  the  most  glar- 
ing can  be  mentioned. 

Under  the  law,  no  official,  either  civil  or 


114      The  Heel  of  War 

military,  can  be  deprived  of  his  office  or  his 
rank  without  the  authority  of  a  properly 
constituted  council  of  discipline.  This  has 
been  brushed  aside  by  the  decrees  of  August 
15  and  September  10,  1914,  placing  every 
employe  of  Government,  from  the  general  in 
command  of  groups  of  armies  to  the  messen- 
ger boys  in  the  civil  departments,  at  the 
mercy  of  their  hierarchical  chiefs,  in  most 
cases  a  single  individual,  who,  without  ap- 
peal, may  remove,  suspend,  or  degrade  any 
or  all  subordinates. 

Under  the  law  no  court-martial,  which 
must  consist  of  five  officers,  can  try  a  pris- 
oner, either  civil  or  military,  without  a  cer- 
tain delay,  nor  inflict  the  death  penalty  with- 
out a  delay  sufficient  to  permit  an  appeal.  A 
decree  (September  6,  1914)  substitutes  for 
the  legal  court  of  five  a  court  of  three  mem- 
bers, and  permits  them  to  try,  condemn  and 


France  115 

execute  a  prisoner,  either  civil  or  military, 
without  any  delay  whatever.  The  prisoner 
is  not  only  tried  for  his  life  by  a  court  of  il- 
legal constitution,  but  is  deprived  of  his 
right  of  appeal.  Surely  even  Russia  and 
Turkey,  at  their  worst,  have  gone  no  further 
than  this. 

The  law  provides  only  one  method  for  the 
removal  of  Mayors ;  that  is  by  Presidential 
decree,  the  vacancy  thus  created  to  be  filled 
by  the  election  of  the  Municipal  Council, 
unless  there  is  an  official  charged  with  the 
functions  of  Vice-Mayor.  Yet  in  many  de- 
partments the  Prefects  have  removed  May- 
ors and  appointed  their  successors,  and 
where  they  have  not  approved  of  the  May- 
ors' conduct  have  even  suspended  them,  with 
as  much  legal  right  as  the  Sheriff  of  Steuben 
County  would  have  to  remove  the  Mayor  of 
New  York. 


116      The  Heel  of  War 

The  Constitution  provides  that  in  case  of 
a  vacancy  in  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  the 
Executive  shall  order  a  special  election  with- 
in three  months.  Yet  a  decree  of  August  7, 
1914,  indefinitely  postponed  all  such  special 
elections. 

By  the  decree  of  January  7, 1915,  the  Ex- 
ecutive forbade  for  all  time  the  sale  of  ab- 
sinthe and  the  opening  of  new  places  for 
the  sale  of  alcoholic  drinks.  This  was  new 
legislation  of  a  most  radical  kind,  repealing 
the  existing  law  and  substituting  a  new  law 
in  its  place,  not  for  the  duration  of  the  war, 
but  indefinitely. 

Using  Article  IX  of  the  obsolete  law  of 
August  9, 1849,  which  permitted  the  military 
authorities  during  a  "state  of  siege"  to  for- 
bid publications  and  meetings  tending  to 
excite  disorder,  and  the  law  of  August  4, 
1914,  which  punishes  indiscreet  publications 


France  117 

of  a  military  nature,  the  Government  has 
decreed  a  censorship  the  like  of  which  the 
world  has  never  known. 

No  new  newspaper  may  be  started  without 
the  permission  of  the  censorship.  Of  exist- 
ing newspapers  only  one  daily  edition  may 
be  issued,  no  "scare  heads"  or  " display 
type"  may  be  used,  no  newspaper  may  be 
"cried"* in  the  streets.  Every  word  that  is 
printed  must  first  be  passed  by  the  Censor, 
on  pain  of  the  suspension  or  suppression  of 
the  newspaper.  No  criticism  of  any  one  in 
authority,  either  civil  or  military,  is  allowed, 
nor  may  any  military  news  be  printed  that 
is  not  passed  by  Headquarters. 

Some  of  the  vagaries  of  the  Censor  would 
strike  any  people  but  the  Latins  as,  to  say 
the  least,  amusing.  For  many  weeks  The 
London  Times  was  not  allowed  in  France, 
because  it  was  supposed  to  print  news  un- 


118      The  Heel  of  War 

favorable  as  well  as  favorable  to  the  Allies, 
nor  for  the  same  reason  were  the  newspa- 
pers allowed  to  print  the  British  official  bul- 
letins. Of  course,  no  German  newspapers 
are  allowed  to  enter  France,  although 
French  and  English  newspapers  may  be  ob- 
tained in  any  large  city  in  Germany.  The 
climax  was  capped  when  the  newspapers 
were  forbidden  to  print  the  weather  predic- 
tions, on  the  ground  that  they  might  furnish 
valuable  information  to  the  enemy.  To  any 
one  who  has  ever  followed  French  weather 
predictions,  which  do  not  come  right  once  in 
a  hundred  times,  the  force  of  this  censorship 
rule  does  not  appear. 

All  mail  matter  is  held  up  by  the  Censor 
for  five  days  before  being  permitted  to  leave 
France,  and  both  inward  and  outward  bound 
mail  is  liable  to  be  opened,  although  there  is 
no  authority  in  law  for  the  proceeding. 


France  119 

Thus  far  there  has  been  no  popular  pro- 
test against  the  dictatorship  of  the  Viviani 
Government.  The  French  people  are  so  de- 
termined to  win  that  they  are  wining  to  make 
any  sacrifice  to  do  so.  They  have  been  told 
so  constantly  that  victory  will  be  impossible 
without  the  temporary  loss  of  political  lib- 
erty that  they  have  begun  to  believe  that  it 
is  so. 

In  our  sense  of  the  term,  the  French  Ee- 
public  has  always  been  undemocratic,  for, 
thanks  to  the  absence  of  great  parties,  and 
to  the  group  system,  thanks  to  a  strongly 
centralized  and  bureaucratic  Government,  it 
has  been  possible  for  a  self -perpetuating 
bourgeois  oligarchy  to  rule  the  republic  un- 
disturbed. Changes  of  Ministry  merely 
mean  changes  in  the  individuals  constituting 
the  Government  without  any  important 
change  in  principles  or  policies.  There  is, 


120      The  Heel  of  War 

therefore,  in  Parliament,  no  effective  oppo- 
sition and  Ministers  live  and  fall  by  the 
force  of  temporary  combinations  of  a  num- 
ber of  Parliamentary  groups. 


CHAPTER  VI 

DISAFFECTION  WITH  VIVIANI  MINISTRY  * 

The  illegal  status  of  the  ruling  ministry.  Praise  of 
General  Joffre.  French  politicians  criticise  British 
tactics.  France  has  no  more  men  for  the  army. 
Fall  of  Calais  and  seizure  of  Suez  Canal  means  end 
of  war.  Creusot  blunder  and  exoneration  of  Gen- 
eral Joffre.  Fear  of  "war  dictatorship"  being  re- 
tained after  peace  is  declared.  Should  Germany 
win,  she  will  find  it  to  her  interests  to  preserve  the 
French  republic  intact. 

THE  present  Viviani  Ministry,  con- 
trary to  all  precedents,  was  formed 
while  Parliament  was  not  in  ses- 
sion.  It  came  into  existence  August  26, 1914, 
and  governed  until  December  24,  without  re- 
ceiving even  the  indirect  approval  of  the 
Chambers.    All  its  members  belong  to  the 

*  Since  this  chapter  was  written  the  Viviani  Min- 
istry has  resigned  and  M.  Briand  has  become  Prime 
Minister,  with  General  Gallieni  as  Minister  of  War 
and  therefore  General  Joffre 's  superior. 

121 


122      The  Heel  of  War 

ruling  oligarchy,  although  professing  va- 
rious shades  of  opinion.  M.  Guesde  is  a  So- 
cialist, M.  Eibot  is  comparatively  conserva- 
tive, while  M.  Briand  is  an  ex-Syndicalist, 
and  M.  Viviani  an  ex-Socialist. 

It  is  needless  to  say  that  were  General 
Joffre  not  in  complete  sympathy  with  the 
oligarchy  he  would  not  hold  his  present 
rank.  Like  his  political  associates,  he  is  a 
bourgeois,  and  an  extreme  radical,  and  every 
step  he  has  made  in  recent  years  has  been 
due  to  the  caste  of  which  he  is  a  member. 

Much  display  is  made  of  his  absolute  im- 
partiality and  of  the  fact  that  the  Marquis 
de  Castelnau,  a  member  of  the  old  aristoc- 
racy, commands  a  group  of  armies.  Except 
for  that  of  General  de  Castelnau,  however, 
one  looks  in  vain  among  the  names  of  high 
commanding  officers  for  the  "particule,"  as 
the  French  call  it,  the  "de,"  which  is  sup- 


Disaffection  123 

posed  to  indicate  aristocratic  birth.  There 
is  no  reason  why  General  Joffre  and  his  as- 
sociates should  not  prefer  their  own  class 
for  high  command,  and,  in  fact,  they  would 
be  very  unwise  were  they  to  give  military 
power  to  any  but  men  in  whom  they  had 
every  confidence. 

The  dictatorship  has  made  itself  as  secure 
as  possible  in  the  belief,  so  say  its  support- 
ers, that  this  is  the  only  way  of  accomplish- 
ing the  gigantic  task  which  confronts  it,  for 
it  fully  realizes  the  seriousness  of  the  pres- 
ent -military  situation.  No  well-informed 
member  of  either  Chamber  has  any  illusions 
about  the  allies  of  France. 

These  members  profess  to  understand 
fully  the  motives  that  brought  Italy  into 
the  war;  in  fact,  they  are  scarcely  just  in 
speaking  of  her,  when  it  is  remembered  that 


124      The  Heel  of  War 

Italy  would  probably  be  at  peace  but  for 
the  efforts  of  England  and  France. 

They  are  convinced  that  if  Italy  can  un- 
aided conquer  the  territory  upon  which  she 
has  set  her  heart  she  will  at  once  make  a 
separate  peace  with  Austria.  In  proof  of 
their  theory  they  point  to  Italy's  unwilling- 
ness to  sign  the  agreement  by  which  France, 
Russia  and  Great  Britain  have  pledged 
themselves  not  to  make  any  separate  peace 
with  the  enemy,  and  express  the  hope  that 
sooner  or  later  Italy  will  be  obliged  to  come 
to  Paris  and  London  for  money,  when  terms 
will  be  enforced  binding  her  to  her  allies 
until  the  end  of  the  war.* 

The  feeling  of  French  politicians  toward 
England  strikes  a  neutral  as  being  very  un- 
fair. They  concede  the  immense  service 

*  Since  the  above  was  written  Italy  has  signed  the 
agreement  not  to  make  a  separate  peace. 


Disaffection  125 

Great  Britain  has  done  the  Allies  in  holding 
the  seas  and  in  lending  them  money,  but 
they  are  openly  and  severely  critical  of  the 
British  Army.  There  are  on  the  Continent 
not  more  than  800,000  Englishmen,  and  this 
number,  it  is  said,  can  never  be  surpassed. 
In  proportion  to  the  length  of  front  held  by 
the  French  the  British  are  holding  about 
one-quarter  of  what  they  should  hold. 
While  great  admiration  is  expressed  for  the 
British  "Tommy"  and  for  the  bravery  of 
his  officers,  the  latter  are  freely  called  igno- 
rant and  incompetent. 

It  is  claimed  that  again  and  again  the 
British  Army  has  been  saved  from  defeat 
only  by  the  timely  help  of  French  troops. 

The  thus  far  complete  failure  of  the  Dar- 
danelles campaign  is  attributed  entirely  to 
British  incompetence.  It  is  said  that  the 
French  were  misled  by  the  British  naval  au- 


126      The  Heel  of  War 

thorities  into  undertaking  what  was  from 
the  military  point  of  view  an  impossible 
task,  on  the  assumption  that  it  could  be  ac- 
complished in  a  few  days  or,  at  the  utmost, 
weeks.  Now  that  it  is  under  way  it  can 
never  be  abandoned,  even  if  the  fighting  con- 
tinues until  the  end  of  the  war. 

The  only  hope  of  success,  certainly  in  the 
Immediate  future,  lies  in  a  flanking  move- 
ment through  Bulgaria,  which  can,  of 
course,  only  be  accomplished  with  the  lat- 
ter 's  consent.  Thus  far  that  very  wily  indi- 
vidual, King  Ferdinand,  and  his  advisers 
have  resisted  all  the  inducements,  both  finan- 
cial and  territorial,  offered  by  the  Allies  for 
the  abandonment  of  Bulgarian  neutrality. 

The  seriousness  of  the  fall  of  Warsaw  is 
perfectly  understood  by  the  rulers  of 
France.  Much  emphasis  is  laid  on  the  Rus- 
sian declaration  that  the  loss  of  the  entire 


Disaffection  127 

Kingdom  of  Poland  is  of  no  moment,  and 
that  in  due  time  they  will  drive  out  the  Ger- 
mans, but  this  is  merely  for  the  benefit  of 
the  public.  Thinking  Frenchmen  know  that 
the  fall  of  the  Polish  capital  is  the  most  dis- 
astrous blow  that  the  Allies  have  suffered 
since  the  war  began.  From  the  strategical 
point  of  view  the  loss  of  Belgium  was  of 
very  great  importance,  but  the  loss  of  War- 
saw is  even  more  vital,  not  only  strategically, 
but  morally  and  politically. 

It  is  obvious  that  von  Hindenburg,  hav- 
ing accomplished  the  purpose  of  his  year- 
long campaign,  in  reducing  Poland  and 
Courland,  will  decline  the  invitation  of  the 
Russians  to  follow  their  weakened  and  more 
or  less  demoralized  army  into  the  heart  of 
Russia,  and,  securing  his  conquests  from 
Riga  to  Sokal,  will,  for  the  present  at  least, 
be  content  to  hold  them.  Even  the  English 


128      The  Heel  of  War 

concede  that  for  some  months  to  come  Rus- 
sia will  be  a  negligible  quantity.  If  it  is  true 
that  the  Central  Empires  have  some  three 
million  troops  on  the  eastern  front,  the  de- 
feat of  Russia  will  release  fully  two  million 
for  other  purposes.  Germany  will  have  at 
her  disposal  nearly  two  million  victorious 
and  seasoned  troops,  probably  as  good  fight- 
ing material  as  the  world  has  ever  known. 

Like  the  troops  who  followed  Napoleon, 
the  army  of  von  Hindenburg  has  implicit 
faith  in  its  commander.  It  has  been  checked, 
but  never  defeated,  and  from  Tannenberg  to 
Warsaw  it  has  won  a  series  of  victories  far 
greater  in  extent  and  immediate  importance 
than  any  in  history.  The  psychological  ef- 
fect of  belief  in  its  invincibility  is  to  make 
an  army  invincible.  Von  Hindenburg 's 
army,  or  rather  armies,  believe  that  they  are 
unconquerable,  and,  with  the  greatest  gen- 


Disaffection  129 

eral  the  war  has  yet  produced  at  their  head, 
it  may  very  well  be  that  they  are  right. 

In  view  of  the  fact  that,  except  for  the 
boys  under  18,  France  has  almost  reached 
the  end  of  her  resources  in  men,  and  that 
the  English  reinforcements  have  been  dis- 
appointing in  quantity  and  quality,  the  ques- 
tion which  interests  the  Allies  to  the  point  of 
extreme  nervousness  is,  "What  will  be  done 
with  this  vast  army  ready  to  be  released?" 

All  or  part  of  it  may  be  used  in  a  drive 
against  Calais.  In  the  latter  event,  now  that 
the  road  is  open  to  Constantinople,  the  part 
not  used  against  Calais  may  be  used  to  bring 
Eumania  to  terms,  or  what  is  much  more 
likely  employed  in  a  campaign  against  the 
Suez  Canal  and  Egypt.  Should  Calais  fall 
and  the  Suez  Canal  be  seized,  in  all  human 
probability  the  end  of  the  war  will  be  in 
sight. 


130      The  Heel  of  War 

It  has  been  said  that  the  three  main  pur- 
poses of  German  strategy  have  been  the  cap- 
ture of  Warsaw,  of  Calais,  and  of  Paris. 
The  first  has  been  accomplished.  If  the  fate 
of  Calais  should  be  that  of  Warsaw,  Ger- 
many will  never  need  to  march  on  Paris, 
for  as  far  as  France  is  concerned,  the  war 
will  be  at  an  end. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  the  ruling  oli- 
garchy in  France,  when  it  faces  outward, 
looks  upon  a  sky  clouded  with  uncertainty 
and  doubt.  Nor  when  it  faces  inward  is  its 
horizon  altogether  clear. 

Recently  there  has  developed  in  the 
Chamber  of  Deputies  a  certain  amount  of 
unrest  under  the  Government's  rule,  which 
has  suggested  a  growing  disposition  to  re- 
volt against  the  dictatorship.  So  much  has 
this  been  the  case  that  the  Government  has 
not  dared  to  dismiss  the  Chambers  by  de- 


Disaffection  131 

cree,  as  it  did  in  August  and  December  of 
last  year,  and  Parliament  has  been  sitting 
continuously  since  January.  At  the  end  of 
July  of  this  year,  at  what  we  should  call  a 
caucus  of  the  different  Parliamentary 
groups,  it  was  unanimously  resolved  that 
each  standing  committee  of  the  Chamber 
should  through  one  of  its  members  keep  in 
touch  with  the  governmental  department  to 
which  the  committee  is  accredited.  For  ex- 
ample, the  representative  of  the  Standing 
Committee  on  Public  Health  is  to  keep  him- 
self informed  as  to  how  the  Government  is 
handling  the  sanitary  features  of  the  war,  to 
report  from  time  to  time  to  his  committee, 
which  in  turn  is  to  report  to  the  Chamber. 

There  has  been  a  great  deal  of  curiosity 
and  much  speculation  as  to  who  is  responsi- 
ble for  the  sudden  display  of  independence 
in  the  Chamber.  Some  say  that  its  author  is 


132      The  Heel  of  War 

Aristide  Briand,  present  Minister  of  Justice 
and  former  Prime  Minister,  and  that  its 
purpose  is  the  displacement  of  the  Viviani 
clique  in  favor  of  M.  Briand  and  his  friends. 

There  are  others  who  believe  that  the 
legislative  revolt  has  been  organized  by  the 
enemies  of  General  Joffre,  with  the  hope 
that  by  overthrowing  the  Ministry  they  may 
substitute  for  him  as  General  in  Chief  either 
Gallieni,  the  Military  Governor  of  Paris,  or 
Foch,  who  commands  one  of  the  groups  of 
armies. 

While  this  explanation  is  possible,  it  is 
hardly  probable.  Although  there  has  lately 
been  considerable  criticism  of  the  Com- 
mander in  Chief  for  not  having  accom- 
plished more  against  the  Germans,  he  seems 
to  have  retained  public  confidence. 

The  policy  of  the  Ministry  has  been  to 
suppress  as  far  as  possible  the  names  of  all 


Disaffection  133 

officers  in  high  command  but  that  of  Joffre. 
As  M.  Millerand,  the  War  Minister,  said, 
with  great  self-satisfaction,  "This  has  been 
and  will  be,  as  far  as  we  are  concerned,  an 
anonymous  war."  In  other  words,  the  Gov- 
ernment is  avoiding  as  much  as  possible  the 
risk  of  an  appearance  of  a  "man  on  horse- 
back" who  might  overthrow  their  colleague, 
General  Joffre,  in  the  popular  fancy  and 
give  them  Infinite  trouble. 

The  consequence  has  been  that,  with  the 
exception  of  that  of  the  Commander  in 
Chief,  the  people  know  the  names  of  scarcely 
any  of  their  generals.  It  is  possible  that 
General  Joffre  might  be  improved  upon,  but, 
thanks  to  the  policy  of  the  Government,  his 
successor  would  suffer  from  the  handicap 
of  not  being  known  to  the  public — a  terrible 
weakness  in  modern  France. 

Undoubtedly  General  Joffre  has  been  held 


134      The  Heel  of  War 

responsible  for  much  for  which  he  is  in  no 
way  to  blame.  For  example,  at  the  outbreak 
of  the  war  all  the  employes  of  the  Creusot 
arms  and  ammunition  factories  were  mobi- 
lized and  sent  to  the  front,  so  as  to  show  that 
the  republic  makes  no  difference  between  in- 
dividuals. At  length,  when  it  was  found  that 
the  Creusot  works  could  not  be  run  by  old 
men,  women,  and  children,  when  they  had 
practically  shut  down,  the  Ministry  sent 
hither  and  thither  to  find  the  former  work- 
men. 

Those  who  had  not  been  killed  or  captured 
by  the  enemy  were  returned  to  the  factory, 
whence  they  should  never  have  been  taken. 
In  Germany  all  the  hands  at  the  Krupp 
works  and  all  the  former  hands  who  could 
be  found  were  mobilized  for  work  at  the  fac- 
tory, where  they  are  serving  Germany  quite 


Disaffection  135 

as  effectively  as  though  they  were  in  the 
trenches. 

General  Joffre  has  been  held  to  blame  for 
the  Creusot  blunder,  although  undoubtedly 
it  was  a  political  play  of  the  Minister  of 
War.  In  the  same  way  he  has  been  most 
unjustly  charged  with  having  ordered  the 
disastrous  drive  into  Alsace  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  war,  which  again  was  due  to  the 
personal  initiative  of  the  then  War  Min- 
ister. 

It  is  probable  that  the  real  cause  of  the 
Parliamentary  revolt  is  far  more  creditable 
than  the  insinuations  of  the  supporters  of 
the  dictatorship  suggest.  There  is  a  very 
general  feeling  among  Frenchmen  who 
know  the  situation  that  the  dictatorship  has 
gone  far  enough.  While  thinking  men  in 
France  submitted  uncomplainingly  to  the 
iron  hand  of  the  Viviani  Ministry  in  the 


136      The  Heel  of  War 

early  days  of  the  war,  under  the  impression 
that  it  was  a  national  necessity,  now  that 
the  nation  has  adapted  herself  to  war  condi- 
tions they  are  beginning  to  realize  that  if 
she  is  capable  of  maintaining  Parliamen- 
tary government  in  time  of  peace  she  is  ca- 
pable of  maintaining  it  in  time  of  war. 

Moreover,  a  war  dictatorship  contains  the 
possibility  of  untold  danger  on  the  return 
of  peace.  They  argue  that  if  the  Constitu- 
tion and  laws  are  to  be  laid  aside  in  time 
of  war  because  the  Ministry  honestly  be- 
lieves a  dictatorship  to  be  in  the  best  inter- 
ests of  the  nation,  is  it  not  possible  that  the 
Ministry  may  honestly  believe  it  to  be  in 
the  best  interests  of  the  nation  to  continue 
the  dictatorship  after  the  war  is  over? 

Why,  then,  run  the  risk  of  imperiling  the 
republic  when  the  risk  may  be  avoided  by 
reasserting  and  reemploying  the  constitu- 


Disaffection  137 

tional  powers  of  Parliament?  Deputies 
concede  that  should  Germany  win  she  would 
probably  find  it  in  her  interests  to  preserve 
the  French  Eepublic.  But  this  would  be  a 
fearful  price  to  pay  for  the  continuance  of 
republican  institutions.  They  hope  and  ex- 
pect that  France  will  win,  and  therefore  be- 
lieve it  to  be  their  patriotic  duty  to  insure 
as  far  as  possible  the  existence  of  the  repub- 
lic rather  than  court  the  danger  of  its  pos- 
sible overthrow  at  the  hands  of  a  Govern- 
ment less  scrupulous  than  that  now  in  pow- 
er, supported  by  a  victorious  army. 


CHAPTER  VII 

ITALY'S  ATTITUDE  TOWARD  THE  WAR 

Italian  vacillation  and  uncertainty  as  to  course  of  ac- 
tion. Her  strength  not  equal  to  her  political  am- 
bitions.  Italy  remained  neutral  only  so  long  as  it 
served  her  interests  to  do  so.  The  "break"  with 
Austria-Hungary.  The  failure  of  Von  Bulow's 
negotiations.  Resulting  "deadlock"  with  Central 
Empires.  Sonino's  radical  alteration  of  Italy's  for- 
eign policy.  Italy  joins  forces  with  the  Allies. 

DURING  the  weeks  which  preceded 
her  declaration  of  war  Italy  passed 
through  a  series  of  experiences 
which,  from  our  point  of  view,  were  so  con- 
tradictory, so  extraordinary,  and  so  essen- 
tially Italian  that  they  would  have  been  al- 
most impossible  anywhere  else. 

The  overwhelming  majority  known  to  ex- 
ist in  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  in  favor  of 
the  preservation  of  neutrality  changed  al- 
most over  night  into  a  nearly  unanimous 

138 


Italy  139 


vote  in  favor  of  hostilities,  and  the  Salandra 
Ministry,  apparently  friendless  one  day,  was 
enthusiastically  acclaimed  the  next.  From 
having  been  willing  and  anxious  to  keep  the 
peace,  provided  that  in  so  doing  her  national 
aspirations  could  be  gratified,  Italy  has  re- 
versed herself  and  become  an  enthusiastic 
advocate  of  "La  guerra  per  la  guerra,"  or 
war  for  war's  sake. 

The  great  difference  in  method  which  ex- 
ists between  us  English-speaking  peoples  on 
the  one  hand  and  the  rest  of  the  world  on 
the  other  is  that  we  always  like  to  gild  the 
pill  of  political  deceit  with  the  gloss  of  fine 
words,  with  what  Bismarck  used  to  call  "the 
English  phrases  about  humanity,"  while  the 
others,  the  Teutons  very  often,  and  the  Lat- 
ins usually,  seek  to  accomplish  their  pur- 
pose with  neither  concealment  nor  excuse. 

The  consequence  is  that  an  act  which 


140      The  Heel  of  War 

seems  perfectly  natural  and  proper  to  a  Lat- 
in because  dictated  by  what  lie  considers 
national  necessity,  may  seem  to  us  to  be 
sordid,  cynical,  and  selfish. 

It  is  very  likely  that  we  might  have  done 
the  same  thing,  but  instead  of  proclaiming  it 
frankly  as  the  gratification  of  national  am- 
bition we  explain  that  we  have  acted  only 
from  the  highest  motives. 

Thus,  while  France  seized  Morocco,  Ger- 
many Belgium,  and  Italy  Tripoli,  because 
they  required,  or  thought  they  required,  the 
conquered  territory,  and  boldly  said  so, 
England  seized  South  Africa  and  we  seized 
Panama  in  the  loudly  proclaimed  interests 
of  the  people  whom  we  seized. 

The  most  remarkable  feature  of  our  meth- 
od is  that,  while  in  following  it  we  deceive 
no  one  else,  we  most  successfully  deceive 
ourselves,  so  that  we  really  believe  that  we 


Italy 


141 


are  unselfish,  and  view  with  genuine  dis- 
tress the  selfishness  of  others.  The  truth  of 
the  matter  is  that  when  we  do  a  mean  act, 
we  at  least  have  the  grace  to  be  ashamed 
of  it,  and  try  to  excuse  ourselves  as  best  we 
may. 

In  discussing  Italy's  recent  foreign  policy 
common  fairness  requires  that  we  should  do 
so  from  the  Italian  point  of  view  and  not 
from  our  own,  and  we  should  try  to  judge 
.what  has  recently  happened  in  Italy  by  Ital- 
ian standards  and  not  by  the  standards 
which  we  have  set  up  for  our  own  guidance, 
but  which  alas!  we  follow  all  too  hesitat- 
ingly. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  Italy  has  late- 
ly felt  the  influence  of  the  spirit  of  nation- 
ality quite  as  much  as  has  any  other  nation. 
For  the  completion  of  her  nationality  her 
people  have  already  made  great  sacrifices 


142      The  Heel  of  War 

and  are  ready  to  make  many  more.  Her 
national  ambitions  are  similar  to  those  of 
every  other  country  on  earth,  and  we  should 
be  the  last  to  condemn  in  her  what  we  hold 
in  honor  among  ourselves. 

She  wishes  to  become  great  and  powerful, 
and  like  every  other  state  worthy  of  exist- 
ence looks  forward  to  the  day  when  she  will 
dominate  the  world. 

But  economically  her  strength  does  not 
equal  her  ambitions.  A  constantly  increas- 
ing population  requires  more  and  ever  more 
employment  and  food,  and  neither  employ- 
ment nor  food  has  kept  pace  with  the  num- 
ber of  arms  that  are  willing  to  work  nor 
with  the  number  of  mouths  needing  to  be 
fed. 

The  surplus  population  has  had  to  go 
abroad  in  very  large  numbers,  and  besides 
these  there  are  some  six  hundred  thousand 


Italy  143 

so-called  " unredeemed"  Italians  living  in 
the  adjoining  provinces  of  Austria.  Under 
the  theory  of  nationality  every  Italian  living 
beyond  the  jurisdiction  of  the  flag  is  a  di- 
rect political  and  economic  loss  to  Italy. 

Italian  nationality  can  never  be  complete 
until  the  neighboring  Italians  are  covered 
by  the  flag  and  until  white  men's  colonies 
are  acquired,  to  which  Italian  emigration 
can  be  directed,  for  Tripoli  does  not  seem  to 
answer  the  purpose  it  was  intended  to  serve. 

Only  when  Italian  nationality  has  been 
completed  can  colonies  be  acquired  beyond 
the  seas;  in  other  words,  can  the  work  of 
Italian  world  empire  building  be  begun. 
Only  when  the  Italian  nation  has  been 
achieved  and  when  every  pair  of  Italian 
arms  has  been  saved  to  Italy  will  the  eco- 
nomic strength  of  the  nation  be  sufficient 
for  world  conquest. 


144      The  Heel  of  War 

The  theory,  of  course,  contains  contradic- 
tions, for  only  the  extreme  Irredentists  se- 
riously believe  that  either  Malta,  Savoy, 
Mce,  Corsica,  or  Ticino  can  ever  be  re- 
deemed, nor  have  any  Italians  as  yet  advo- 
cated the  "redemption"  of  their  fellow-coun- 
trymen in  North  and  South  America.  The 
doctrine  of  Italian  redemption  applies  only 
to  the  Italian  provinces  of  Austria-Hun- 
gary. 

When  the  war  broke  out  last  August  the 
Italian  people  at  once  realized  the  possibil- 
ity of  turning  it  to  their  advantage,  and  did 
not  hesitate  to  announce  their  intention  of 
making  it  serve  "i  nostri  interessi" — "our 
interests" — which  meant  that  they  proposed 
to  acquire  a  maximum  of  the  spoils  of  war 
with  a  TniniTrmm  of  effort. 

In  this  great  world  war  of  selfishness  and 
greed,  in  which  each  country,  except  wretch- 


Italy  145 

ed  Belgium,  is  fighting  for  its  own  hand, 
Italy  should  not  be  blamed  for  doing  what 
all  the  rest  have  done,  nor  should  she  be  criti- 
cised for  openly  announcing  her  purpose  as 
none  of  the  rest  have  been  willing  to  do. 

Italian  statesmen  have  never  forgotten 
that  Machiavelli  was  the  first  to  preach  the 
modern  doctrine  of  Italian  nationality. 
And  so  in  making  a  reality  of  the  splendid 
dreams  of  the  great  Florentine  they  have 
never  hesitated  to  employ  the  methods  which 
he  advocated. 

There  is  an  almost  childlike  simplicity  in 
the  Italian  character  which  causes  Italians 
to  be  rather  proud  of  motives  which  we 
should  conceal,  even  though  they  were  based 
on  apparent  necessity.  And  when  the  in- 
terests of  La  Patria  are  involved  Italians 
frankly  insist  that  any  means  and  any  meth- 
ods are  justified  for  their  defense.  In  our 


146      The  Heel  of  War 

hearts  we  may  quite  agree  with  the  Italian 
idea,  but  we  are  always  loath  to  acknowledge 
that  we  are  willing  to  serve  our  country  by 
morally  equivocal  means. 

Signor  Sonino  set  himself  the  task  of 
making  the  best  possible  bargain  for  Italy 
by  playing  the  belligerents  against  each 
other.  As  Italy  was  utterly  unprepared  for 
war,  time  was  absolutely  essential,  and  time 
she  has  gained. 

How  well  the  Government  has  employed 
the  last  nine  months  will  only  be  shown 
when  the  Italian  Army  actually  takes  part 
in  the  fighting.  It  is  certain,  however,  that 
both  the  Central  Empires  and  the  Allies  have 
believed  the  services  of  Italy  well  worth 
bidding  for. 

Italy  was  undoubtedly  justified  in  remain- 
ing neutral  at  the  outbreak  of  the  war;  for 
the  terms  of  the  Triple  Alliance  only  re- 


Italy 


147 


quired  her  to  fight  in  the  event  of  an  attack 
upon  one  of  the  contracting  parties.  It  is, 
moreover,  extremely  doubtful  if  the  Italian 
people  would  have  submitted  to  a  war  on 
behalf  of  their  hereditary  enemy,  Austria. 
For  the  moment  both  belligerents  were,  or 
rather  had  to  be,  satisfied,  for  Italy  might 
have  taken  a  position  far  less  favorable  to 
either  one  or  the  other. 

As  long  as  Marchese  di  San  Giuliano  oc- 
cupied the  Foreign  Office,  it  seemed  as 
though  Italy  would  in  good  faith  preserve 
neutrality,  with  the  intention  of  playing 
"the  honest  broker "  at  the  close  of  the  war 
and  of  demanding  compensation  for  her 
services. 

When  early  last  winter  Marchese  di  San 
Giuliano  died  and  was  succeded  by  Barone 
Sidney  Sonino,  Italy's  foreign  policy  was 
radically  altered.  Sonino,  who  is  half  an 


148      The  Heel  of  War 

Englishman,  with  more  or  less  strongly  de- 
veloped pro-British  sympathies,  at  once 
abandoned  San  Giuliano's  course  and  began 
an  aggressive  diplomatic  campaign  against 
Austria-Hungary.  The  history  of  his  activ- 
ity is  contained  in  the  recently  published 
"Libro  Verde,"  or  "Green  Book,"  which  is 
one  of  the  most  illuminating  existing  com- 
mentaries on  present-day  Italian  political 
methods  and  practices. 

On  December  9,  1914,  Sonino  instructed 
the  Italian  Ambassador  at  Vienna  to  call  the 
attention  of  Count  Berchtold,  the  Austro- 
Hungarian  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  to 
what  Sonino  claimed  was  a  serious  breach 
of  the  terms  of  Article  VII  of  the  treaty  re- 
newing the  Triple  Alliance. 

While  the  treaty  of  the  Triple  Alliance  has 
never  been  published,  the  many  references 
to  Article  VII  in  the  " Libro  Verde"  clearly 


Italy 


149 


show  its  purport.  It  is  obvious  that  it 
provided  that  should  Austria-Hungary  at 
any  time  permanently  occupy  any  territory 
in  the  Balkan  States,  Italy  should,  in  return, 
receive  territorial  compensation  from  Aus- 
tria-Hungary. 

Although  Italy  had  declared  her  neutral- 
ity on  August  3,  1914,  and  although  Aus- 
tria-Hungary had  entered  Serbia  almost  im- 
mediately after  the  declaration  of  war,  it 
was  not  until  four  months  later  (December 
9,  1914)  that  the  Italian  Government  saw 
fit  to  ask  compensation  for  that  permanent 
occupation  of  a  part  of  Serbia  which  the 
Dual  Monarchy  had  evidently  intended  from 
the  beginning.* 

Sonino's  dispatch  of  December  9  is  certain- 

*  On  Aug.  25, 1914,  Marchese  di  San  Giuliano  stated 
that ' '  it  would  now  be  premature  to  speak  of  compen- 
sations" (Annex  I  of  Libro  Verde). 


150      The  Heel  of  War 

ly  admirable  for  its  frankness.  It  contains 
no  "fine  phrases  about  humanity,"  but  goes 
with  brutal  and  cynical  directness  straight 
to  the  point. 

The  substance  of  it  is  that  under  Article 
VII  it  was  agreed  that  if  Austria-Hungary 
wished  to  seize  Balkan  territory  Italy  must 
receive  compensation  in  Austro-Hungarian 
territory.  That  without  previous  consulta- 
tion with  her  ally,  Italy,  the  Dual  Monarchy 
had  entered  Serbia  with  the  evident  purpose 
of  remaining  permanently,  and  that  Italy 
had  received  nothing  in  return.  If  she 
wished  to  receive  a  free  hand  in  Serbia, 
from  Italy,  she  must  meet  Italian  demands. 

Count  Berchtold  was  at  first  not  inclined 
even  to  discuss  the  question  of  the  alleged 
breach  of  Article  VII,  but  consented  to  do 
so  in  a  half-hearted  way  when  urged  by  Herr 


Italy 


151 


Jagow,  the  German  Minister  of  Foreign  Af- 
fairs. 

On  December  16  Prince  von  Billow  ar- 
rived in  Rome  and  at  once  began  his  bril- 
liant but  hopeless  efforts  to  bring  together 
Germany's  two  colleagues  in  the  Triple  Al- 
liance. According  to  the  "Libro  Verde," 
Prince  von  Bulow  agreed  with  Barone  So- 
nino  that  Article  VII  had  been  violated  and 
at  last  induced  Austria-Hungary  to  discuss 
seriously  the  question  of  compensation. 

Baron  Burian,  who  succeeded  Count 
Berchtold,  at  first  suggested  that  Italy's  oc- 
cupation of  the  Dodecanese  and  Valona  was 
sufficient  compensation  to  meet  the  require- 
ments of  the  case.  Italy  replied  that  she 
must  veto  all  Austro-Hungarian  military  ac- 
tivities in  the  Balkans  until  the  question  of 
compensation  had  been  decided,  and  that  the 
compensation  must  be  in  Austro-Hungarian 


152      The  Heel  of  War 

territory.  At  last  Prince  von  Billow  told 
Sonino  that  lie  had  advised  Austria-Hun- 
gary "to  give  to  Italy  at  the  close  of  the 
war  Italian  Trentino."  Sonino  replied  that 
the  cession  of  territory  must  be  made  at  once, 
whereupon  Bulow  succeeded  in  having  the 
question  of  the  time  of  cession  postponed 
until  after  the  amount  of  cession  had  been 
determined. 

Then  followed  a  long  period  of  haggling, 
each  side  trying  to  overreach  the  other  and 
to  gain  time,  neither  side  being  willing  to 
come  to  a  definite  understanding.  Italy  was 
evidently  unwilling  to  announce  her  irredu- 
cible minimum  of  demand,  while  Austria- 
Hungary  was  equally  unwilling  to  announce 
her  absolute  maximum  of  concession. 

Finally,  on  March  27,  Baron  Burian  of- 
fered in  return  for  a  perfectly  free  hand  in 
the  Balkans  to  cede  to  Italy  at  the  close  of 


Italy 


153 


the  war  Southern  Tirol,  including  the  city 
of  Trento.  To  which,  on  April  8,  Barone 
Sonino  replied  with  a  counter-proposition, 
which  provided  for  the  immediate  cession 
of  Trentino,  as  it  belonged  to  the  Napoleonic 
Kingdom  of  Italy  in  1811,  Gradiska,  and 
Gorz,  and  six  groups  of  islands  off  the  Dal- 
matian coast ;  Trieste  and  its  province,  with 
Istria  as  far  south  as  Pirano  to  at  once  be- 
come a  free  and  independent  state,  Austria 
to  recognize  Italian  sovereignty  over  Valona 
and  its  hinterland,  and  to  give  Italy  a  free 
hand  in  Albania. 

In  return  for  which  Italy  offered  to  give 
Austria-Hungary  a  free  hand  in  the  Bal- 
kans, to  preserve  strict  neutrality  toward 
both  her  allies,  and  to  pay  Austria-Hungary 
two  hundred  million  lire  in  settlement  of  all 
property,  debts,  claims,  etc.,  of  and  by  the 
ceded  provinces. 


154      The  Heel  of  War 

To  this  proposal  Burian  replied  with  an- 
other, offering  a  much  enlarged  territory  to 
the  north  of  Trento,  including  most  of  the 
Italian-speaking  Tirol,  but  declining  the 
other  Italian  demands.  The  Italian  Ambas- 
sador to  Vienna  reported  that  he  thought 
Austria  might  possibly  consent  to  some  mod- 
ifications of  the  boundary  between  Friuli 
and  the  valley  of  the  Isonzo  and  a  recogni- 
tion of  Italian  sovereignty  over  Valona,  but 
nothing  more. 

On  May  3  Sonino  instructed  the  Italian 
Ambassador  to  denounce  the  treaty  with 
Austria-Hungary,  and  on  May  4  the  Ambas- 
sador reported  that  he  had  obeyed  orders, 
and  with  this  last  dispatch  the  "Libro 
Verde"  closes. 

The  history  of  the  negotiations  has,  how- 
ever, been  carried  a  step  further  by  the  Im- 
perial German  Chancellor,  who  in  his  speech 


Italy 


155 


to  the  Reichstag  on  May  18  stated  that  Aus- 
tria-Hungary had  offered  certain  conces- 
sions to  Italy.  He  mentioned  no  dates,  but 
it  is  clear  that  the  offer  was  made  after 
Italy  had  denounced  her  treaty  with  the 
Dual  Monarchy. 

According  to  Dr.  von  Bethmann-Hollweg 
Austria-Hungary  offered  to  cede  to  Italy 
Italian  Tirol  and  the  west  bank  of  the 
Isonzo,  including  the  city  of  Gradiska,  to 
make  of  Trieste  a  free  city  of  the  empire 
with  an  Italian  university  and  freedom  from 
military  service  for  its  inhabitants,  to  yield 
all  Austrian  and  Hungarian  interests  in  Al- 
bania, and  to  recognize  Italian  interests  in 
that  country  and  Italian  sovereignty  over 
Valona. 

Germany  promised  to  guarantee  Austria- 
Hungary's  good  faith  and  loyalty  in  execut- 
ing the  agreement.  Subsequently  the  Aus- 


156      The  Heel  of  War 

trian  Ambassador  in  Eome  stated  that  the 
offer  was  for  cession  of  territory  within 
thirty  days  after  ratification. 

It  is  possible,  and  even  probable,  that  if, 
before  May  4,  Austria-Hungary  had  agreed 
to  immediate  cession  of  territory  war  might 
have  been  averted,  for  it  is  doubtful  if  the 
Italian  Government  would  or  could  have 
refused  the  Austrian  offer,  even  though  it 
did  not  meet  all  the  requirements  of  the 
Italian  demand.  Austria's  mistake  was  in 
not  yielding  soon  enough. 

Knowing  the  Italian  disposition  to  bar- 
gain, she  did  not  realize  that  the  Italian  de- 
mand of  April  8  was  really  an  ultimatum. 
She  assumed  that  it  was  a  bluff,  and  that  by 
prolonging  negotiations  she  could  make  bet- 
ter terms. 

She  utterly  failed  to  understand  that 
Italy's  military  preparations  were  now  com- 


Italy 


157 


plete  and  that  the  Italian  Government  had 
nothing  to  gain  by  further  delay.  When 
Italy  broke  off  relations  with  her  she  was 
honestly  surprised,  and  then,  when  too  late, 
yielded  almost  everything  that  Italy  had  de- 
sired. 

She  did  not,  however,  yield  everything, 
refusing  enough  to  justify  Sonino,  at  least 
in  his  own  eyes,  in  the  course  he  proceeded 
to  follow.  Although  Sonino  had  made  a 
quasi  arrangement  with  England,  and  as  the 
newspapers  expressed  it,  "the  national  hon- 
or was  involved,"  even  then  war  might  have 
been  averted  had  Austria  been  willing  to 
yield  unreservedly  to  the  Italian  demands. 

What  Prince  von  Billow's  feelings  must 
have  been  can  be  easily  imagined.  He  came 
within  sight  of  complete  success,  only  to  see 
the  plans  which  his  patience  and  great  abil- 
ity had  been  preparing  through  five  months 


158      The  Heel  of  War 

of  heart-breaking  negotiations  come  to  noth- 
ing because  of  the  obstinacy  of  those  in  con- 
trol of  the  Hapsburg  Empire. 

The  Italian  Government  press  has  ex- 
plained that  the  final  Austrian  offer  made 
before  relations  were  broken  off  could  under 
no  circumstances  have  been  accepted.  As 
Signor  Giolitti  has  expressed  it,  "1'appetito 
cresce  mangiando" — "the  appetite  grows  in 
eating."  The  appetite  of  the  country  had 
grown  to  such  an  extent  that  nothing  short 
of  Immediate  cession  would  satisfy  it. 

It  is  insisted  that  a  new  promise  to  deliver 
at  a  future  date  would  inevitably  have  re- 
sulted in  a  revolution  in  Italy,  in  which  even 
the  army  might  have  taken  part.  Moreover, 
it  is  claimed  that  if  the  Central  Empires 
had  won  they  might  have  felt  themselves 
strong  enough  to  repudiate  the  bargain, 


Italy  159 


while  if  they  had  lost  they  would  not  have 
been  strong  enough  to  carry  it  out. 

On  the  other  hand,  Austria's  refusal  up  to 
May  4  to  cede  an  inch  of  territory  until  after 
the  war  was  supported  by  her  press  on  the 
same  ground  of  fear  of  revolution,  and  it 
was  urged  that  war  with  the  possibility  of 
victory  was  preferable  to  the  certainty  of 
revolution  with  the  probable  fall  of  the 
dynasty. 

Some  time  before  the  deadlock  became  cer- 
tain, in  fact  when  von  Biilow  was  still  very 
hopeful  of  bringing  Austria  and  Italy  to- 
gether, the  Italian  Government  had  begun 
to  feel  out  the  Allies,  and  finally,  if  the 
Italian  press  is  to  be  believed,  on  April  25, 
at  the  same  time  that  they  were  negotiating 
with  the  Central  Empires,  made  a  qualified 
agreement  with  Great  Britain  acting  on  be- 
half of  herself,  Russia,  and  France. 


160      The  Heel  of  War 

While  the  terms  of  this  agreement  have 
not  been  officially  published,  it  is  generally 
understood  that  it  provided  that  if  before 
May  25  Italy  should  declare  war  against 
Austria  she  should  be  given  a  seaport  in 
Somaliland,  a  slight  rectification  of  the 
boundary  between  Tunisia  and  Tripoli,  a 
free  hand  in  Albania,  the  undisputed  posses- 
sion of  any  Austro-Hungarian  territory  she 
might  conquer  and  hold  at  the  close  of  the 
war,  and  large  enough  loans  to  finance  her 
operations. 

Soon  after  the  treaty  with  Austria-Hun- 
gary was  denounced  the  quasi  treaty  with 
Great  Britain  was  made  definite  and  Italy 
was  bound,  as  far  as  the  Ministry  could  bind 
her,  to  join  the  Allies  against  the  Central 
Empires. 

While  the  agreement  with  the  Allies  was 
kept  secret,  it  had  hardly  been  made  when 


Italy  lei 

it  became  perfectly  evident  that  Italy  in- 
tended to  break  with  the  Triple  Alliance. 
The  Government  newspapers  openly  pro- 
claimed the  necessity  of  war,  laughed  at  the 
proposed  Austrian  concessions  as  being  ut- 
terly inadequate  and  as  having  been  offered 
too  late,  and  insisted  that  the  honor  of  the 
country  required  her  to  fight. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

GIOLITTl  AND  THE  ITALIAN  GOVERNMENT 

For  fifteen  years  Giolitti  has  dominated  Italian  politics. 
Government  furious  at  Giolitti's  intervention. 
Resignations  of  ministry  handed  in.  Example  of 
mob  psychology.  King  attempted  to  form  new  gov- 
ernment. Continuation  of  Salandra  ministry.  War 
declared  against  Austria=Hungary.  Italy  doomed  to 
disappointment  no  matter  what  the  outcome  may 
be.  Conduct  of  Italian  people  worthy  of  highest 
praise. 

THE  people  had  concluded  that  war 
was  inevitable  when  one  morning 
Signor    Giolitti    reached    Rome. 
Giolitti  is  the  most  powerful  individual,  one 
of  the  most  admired,  most  feared,  and  most 
hated  in  the  kingdom.    For  fifteen  years  he 
has  dominated  Italian  politics  and  abso- 
lutely controlled  the  Chamber  of  Deputies. 
His  enemies  charge  him  with  questionable 
political  practices,  and  with  being  a  man 

162 


Giolitti  163 

who  holds  his  power  by  machine  methods. 

All  this  may  be  true,  but  if  so,  he  has  only 
followed  the  system  of  his  predecessors, 
Crispi  and  Depretis.  In  the  eyes  of  his  op- 
ponents his  greatest  sin  has  been  his  suc- 
cess, for  the  little  men  who  rail  against  him 
have  all  tried  unsuccessfully  to  copy  him. 
Whether  one  likes  the  man  and  approves 
of  his  methods  or  not,  one  must  concede  his 
patriotism  and  great  force  of  character. 

The  present  Government  was  originally 
his  creation,  and  San  Giuliano  was  his  old 
Foreign  Minister.  The  advent  of  Sonino 
caused  the  Salandra  Ministry  to  break  with 
its  creator,  for  there  is  no  love  lost  between 
Sonino  and  Giolitti,  and  Sonino  is  the  domi- 
nant force  in  the  present  Government. 

From  the  very  beginning  of  the  war  Gio- 
litti has  not  hesitated  to  state  his  belief  that 
Italy  could  obtain  "parechi  compensi" — 


164      The  Heel  of  War 

"some  compensations" — from  Austria  with- 
out fighting,  and  he  has  earnestly  opposed 
Italy's  entrance  into  the  war  except  as  a  last 
resort. 

Immediately  after  his  arrival  in  the  capi- 
tal he  made  his  position  perfectly  clear.  He 
was  of  the  opinion  that  the  Austrian  offer 
made  after  May  4  should  be  accepted  as  be- 
ing all  that  Italy  could  possibly  expect, 
that  war  would  delay  Italian  progress  for 
fifty  years,  that  even  if  she  were  able  to 
conquer  territory  inhabited  by  Germans  and 
Slavs  and  were  to  keep  it,  she  would  have 
on  her  hands  "a  problem  of  inverse  irredent- 
ism,  worse  even  than  has  been  the  German 
problem  of  Alsace  and  Lorraine,"  and,  most 
important  of  all,  that  to  wage  war  against 
Germany  and  Austria-Hungary,  for  more 
than  a  quarter  of  a  century  her  allies,  would 
be  on  the  part  of  Italy  an  act  of  shameless 


Giolitti  165 

national  perfidy.  He  has  been  quoted  as 
saying,  "If  Italy  goes  to  war,  whatever  the 
outcome,  the  results  are  bound  to  be  most 
sad,"  (tristissimi). 

The  Government  was  furious  at  Giolitti 's 
interference.  They  had  bound  themselves  in 
their  secret  arrangement  with  Great  Brit- 
ain, and  saw  their  power  to  carry  out  their 
agreement  slipping  from  them.  They  tried 
in  vain  to  break  Giolitti 's  power.  The  serv- 
ices of  d'Annunzio  were  secured,  and  the 
poet  of  decadence  spoke  early  and  late  in 
favor  of  war. 

The  Government  press  charged  Giolitti 
with  having  sold  himself  to  Germany  for 
cash,  and  abused  all  who  opposed  the  Gov- 
ernment program  with  a  violence  and  a 
scurrility  impossible  in  any  other  country. 
It  was  hinted  that  the  national  honor  re- 
quired a  declaration  of  war,  and  Government 


166      The  Heel  of  War 

supporters  went  as  far  as  they  dared  in  sug- 
gesting the  existence  of  an  arrangement 
with  England. 

But,  despite  all  their  efforts,  Salandra  and 
Sonino  found  that  the  Chamber  had  rallied 
to  Giolitti  and  that  the  country  was  rapidly 
following  the  Chamber.  Had  Giolitti  been 
given  two  days  more  there  would  have  been 
no  war,  but  the  Government  was  desperate 
and  played  its  last  card. 

The  resignations  of  the  Ministry  were 
handed  to  the  King,  and  immediately  inter- 
ventionist demonstrations  began  all  over 
Italy.  These  demonstrations  were  so  evi- 
dently artificial  that  it  was  obvious  they 
were  organized  or  at  least  encouraged  by 
agents  either  in  the  employment  of  the  Gov- 
ernment or  its  friends. 

Any  one  who  saw  the  Italian  general 
strike  last  year  must  have  been  greatly  im- 


Giolitti  167 

pressed  by  the  difference  between  it  and  the 
recent  anti-peace  outbursts.  The  crowds  who 
created  the  disorders  of  last  year  were  com- 
posed of  grown  men,  who  meant  business 
and  who  were  out  for  trouble.  The  crowds 
to  whom  d'Annunzio  spoke  and  who  paraded 
the  streets  shouting  "a  morte  Giolitti,  viva 
la  guerra,"  were  made  up  almost  entirely 
of  half -grown  lads  and  schoolboys,  hardly 
any  of  whom  were  of  military  age. 

The  Government  treated  these  very  good- 
natured  and  orderly  mobs  with  the  greatest 
seriousness,  and  had  in  Eome  at  one  time 
some  twenty  thousand  men  under  arms,  to 
control  crowds  which  five  hundred  New 
York  policemen  could  have  handled  easily. 
A  few  windows  were  broken,  the  signs  of  a 
few  German  shopkeepers  were  pulled  down, 
and  the  Government  newspapers  announced 
that  the  revolution  had  come. 


168      The  Heel  of  War 

Mob  psychology  is  so  curious  that,  while 
the  crowds  were  in  themselves  harmless 
enough,  their  influence  began  to  be  felt 
everywhere.  People  who  in  the  beginning 
had  laughed  at  the  whole  matter,  after  two 
days  of  demonstrations  reached  the  conclu- 
sion that  revolution  was  really  at  hand,  and 
many  neutralisti  honestly  became  convinced 
that  the  only  alternative  to  revolution  was 
war. 

The  King,  surrounded  by  troops,  re- 
mained shut  up  in  his  villa  outside  the  walls, 
all  the  shops  were  closed,  and  Italy  stam- 
peded. 

Meanwhile  the  King  had  made  two  or 
three  half-hearted  and  unsuccessful  at- 
tempts to  form  a  new  Government.  After 
the  Cabinet  crisis  had  lasted  two  days,  dur- 
ing which  the  pro-war  demonstrations  grew 
constantly  more  noisy,  Salandra  was  sent  for 


Giolitti 

and  informed  that  his  resignation  was  de- 
clined. The  announcement  that  the  Salan- 
dra  Ministry  was  to  continue,  with  the  con- 
sequent certainty  of  war,  was  received  with 
apparently  general  enthusiasm,  and  that 
night  all  Rome  demonstrated  in  favor  of 
immediate  hostilities. 

On  May  20  Parliament  met  and  adjourned 
after  having  virtually  suspended  the  Consti- 
tution by  giving  the  Cabinet  dictatorial  pow- 
ers to  declare  war  and  govern  the  country 
during  its  continuance.  On  May  23  Italy 
declared  war  against  Austria-Hungary,  and 
the  next  day  von  Billow  left  Rome. 

Ten  days  before  war  was  declared  a  ma- 
jority of  the  people  were  undoubtedly  for 
peace,  but  changes  in  public  opinion  come  in 
Italy  with  such  extraordinary  suddenness 
that  what  would  be  impossible  elsewhere  is 
quite  possible  there. 


170      The  Heel  of  War 

So  it  may  be  that  for  the  moment  at  least 
the  Italian  people  are  sincerely  in  favor  of 
war.  Of  course,  although  a  noisy  minority 
often  can  succeed  in  forcing  an  unwilling 
majority  to  do  its  bidding,  for  various  rea- 
sons during  the  last  weeks  of  peace  many 
Italians  were  converted  from  a  neutralist  to 
an  interventionist  attitude. 

A  great  number  of  these  converts  support 
the  war  as  the  only  refuge  from  revolution, 
others  believe  that  the  only  half  acknowledg- 
ed agreement  with  Great  Britain  so  compro- 
mised the  national  honor  as  to  make  war  in- 
evitable, while  with  many  their  hatred  of 
Giolitti  has  blinded  them  to  the  merits  or 
wisdom  of  the  course  the  Government  has 
adopted. 

These  latter  frankly  say  that  they  prefer 
war  with  all  its  risks  to  a  peace  preserved  by 
the  Deputy  from  Dronero,  with  the  cer- 


Giolitti 

tainty  of  its  resulting  in  his  return  to  power. 
Besides  there  are  those  who  honestly  believe 
that  Austria's  offer  of  compensation  was 
insufficient,  and  nurse  the  delusion  that  the 
Allies,  if  victorious,  will  permit  them  not 
only  to  make  of  the  Adriatic  an  Italian  lake, 
but  also  to  share  in  the  Turkish  spoils  in 
Europe  and  Asia. 

Of  course,  Signor  Salandra,  or  rather 
Barone  Sonino,  could  not  be  expected  at  the 
last  moment  to  do  other  than  follow  the 
course  he  had  marked  out  from  the  begin- 
ning. With  Salandra  at  the  head  of  affairs, 
German  military  success  was  the  only  ar- 
gument that  could  have  preserved  Italian 
neutrality,  and  a  succession  of  important 
German  victories  would  doubtless  have  al- 
tered the  situation.  * 

Last  autumn  the  Italian  Government  evi- 
dently believed  that  the  Central  Empires 


172      The  Heel  of  War 

would  win,  and,  as  San  Giuliano  said,  "did 
not  consider  the  time  opportune  for  a  discus- 
sion of  the  question  of  compensation."  As 
the  chances  of  great  German  success  grew 
less  and  as  it  became  constantly  more  evi- 
dent that  the  war  might  end  in  a  draw  or 
in  a  German  defeat,  Barone  Sonino  felt  that 
the  time  had  become  most  opportune  for 
such  a  discussion. 

The  Government  obviously  decided  that 
the  future  belonged  to  the  Allies,  and  for 
the  sake  of  Italian  interests  aligned  them- 
selves with  the  side  they  believed  would  win. 
There  has  been  absolutely  no  pretense  of 
sentiment  in  the  matter.  Sonino  is  prob- 
ably prejudiced  in  favor  of  England,  but 
excepting  him  very  few  prominent  Italians 
have  any  particular  liking  for  their  new 
friends. 

Had  the  Government  not  carried  on  ne- 


Giolitti  173 

gotiations  with  both  sides  at  once,  with  the 
Central  Empires  and  the  Allies  at  the  same 
time,  it  would  have  been  free  to  accept  Aus- 
tria's final  offer.  Without  striking  a  blow 
Italy  could  have  realized  almost  all  her  na- 
tional ambitions,  and  at  the  same  time  would 
have  kept  faith  with  her  allies.  As  it  is, 
she  has  broken  with  her  old  associates  and 
begun  a  war  the  end  of  which  no  man  can 
see,  but  that  cannot  possibly  give  her  more 
than  she  could  have  gained  without  fighting. 
No  matter  who  may  win,  Italy  can  never 
realize  her  great  expectations.  If  the  Cen- 
tral Empires  should  triumph,  she  will  be  ex- 
tremely fortunate  if  she  is  permitted  to  re- 
main intact,  while  if  the  Allies  should  win, 
no  matter  how  great  the  victory  may  be,  she 
is  doomed  to  disappointment,  for  it  is  past 
belief  that  Great  Britain  and  France  will 


174      The  Heel  of  War 

permit  her  to  dismember  Austria  and  make 
of  the  Adriatic  an  Italian  lake. 

Had  she  entered  the  war  from  altruistic 
motives  the  risk  she  is  taking  would  have 
been  perfectly  justified,  as  it  would  be  had 
she  been  attacked.  But  she  has  forced  war 
on  Germany  and  Austria-Hungary  solely 
for  the  purpose  of  furthering  her  national 
interests  by  acquiring  Austrian  territory. 

The  nine  months  which  preceded  Italy's 
declaration  of  war  were,  it  is  true,  a  period 
of  sordid  bargaining  and  intrigue  on  the 
part  of  the  politicians  who  control  the  Gov- 
ernment. But  it  was  a  period  lightened  and 
relieved  by  the  conduct  of  the  Italian  peo- 
ple. 

Their  patience  through  it  all,  their  calm- 
ness and  cheerfulness  have  been  extraordi- 
nary. Times  have  been  cruelly  hard  in  Italy, 
and  the  poverty  and  real  suffering  have 


. 


Giolitti  175 

been  greater  than  at  any  time  in  the  history 
of  the  new  kingdom. 

For  nine  months  they  lived  literally  from 
day  to  day,  never  knowing  what  the  next 
day  might  bring  forth.  Their  Government 
at  no  time  took  them  into  its  confidence,  and 
they  really  knew  less  of  what  was  going  on 
than  did  any  intelligent  outsider.  Until  the 
demonstrations  in  May  were  organized  or 
accelerated  there  was  never  a  hint  of  weari- 
ness or  impatience,  for  all  classes  bore  the 
hardships  and  sacrifices  of  the  winter  with 
exemplary  good-will  and  fortitude. 

Now  that  the  time  of  waiting  is  over  and 
the  day  of  action  has  arrived,  they  have  ap- 
parently all  agreed  to  forget  past  differences 
and  to  look  only  forward.  Most  of  them  did 
not  want  war,  but  all — those  who  wanted 
war  and  those  who  did  not,  those  who 
thought  war  inevitable  and  those  who  be- 


176      The  Heel  of  War 

lieved  that  a  wiser  leadership  might  have 
avoided  it — are  united  in  their  belief  that, 
right  or  wrong,  La  Patria  must  be  sup- 
ported. 

At  first  most  of  the  people  took  the  war  in 
the  same  happy  spirit  in  which  they  take  a 
holiday.  They  were  so  convinced  of  the  in- 
vincibility of  La  Patria  that  they  believed 
her  entrance  on  the  side  of  the  Allies  would 
result  in  the  defeat  of  the  Central  Empires 
in  a  few  weeks,  and  besides  they  had  no  con- 
ception of  the  horrors  of  war,  of  its  cost  in 
men  and  misery,  and  anything  was  better 
than  the  dreadful  uncertainty  of  not  know- 
ing when  it  would  begin.  Very  soon  the 
spirit  of  the  people  changed,  so  that  the  gen- 
eral mobilization  saw  the  regiments  march- 
ing to  the  front,  not  singing  or  cheering,  but 
in  silence,  leaving  behind  their  mothers  and 
their  wives  and  their  sweethearts. 


Giolitti  177 

If  since  the  great  European  war  began 
there  has  been  but  little  to  admire  in  the 
conduct  of  the  politicians  in  control  of  the 
Italian  Government,  the  conduct  of  the  Ital- 
ian people  has  been  worthy  of  all  praise.  If 
the  war  which  Italy  has  undertaken  results 
in  her  everlasting  credit  and  glory,  no 
thanks  will  be  due  to  those  who  might  hon- 
orably have  avoided  it  but  nevertheless 
brought  it  about,  but  the  honor  will  belong  to 
the  nation  itself,  because  of  the  self-sacri- 
fice, the  endurance,  and  the  patriotism  of  the 
people. 


THE  END. 


UCSOUTHE 


